Product Highlight: BC L-38-MM
Product Type: Mildly Acidic Liquid Compound Engineered for Cleaning and Brightening Aluminum
Customer: Manufacturer of Cast Aluminum Automotive Components
Objective: Replace an Expensive and Underperforming Brightening Compound
Description: The customer—a manufacturer of cast aluminum automotive components—cleans, deburrs and brightens aluminum castings in large vibratory bowls that are fed individually from a central location via a chemical proportioning device. The concentration was running at a relatively consistent 1% by volume diluted in municipal water at an elevated temperature. At this chemical feed rate, the customer was consuming two (2) 275-gallon liquid bins per week with cycle times as long as 45 minutes to achieve the required luster. In addition, the stainless steel media was corroding over time, leading to unsatisfactory levels of cleanliness and high levels of media turnover. Finally, excessive foam levels were causing undesirable workplace conditions.
ICC representatives conducted a comprehensive survey of the customer’s operations and determined that BC L-38-MM would far surpass the performance they were getting from their current product. Extensive and intensive on-site testing was performed in an effort to dial in the ideal solution concentration and cycle time necessary to achieve the desired luster for the processed components. The test was deemed by the engineers in attendance to be an overwhelming success.
The customer switched to BC L-38-MM on the spot. They placed their first order and two (2) 275-gallon totes of BC L-38-MM were shipped the next afternoon. Upon receipt of their order just two days later, the customer hooked up their first tote to the proportioning device and immediate operational improvements were observed.
Conclusion: The per-gallon price of BC L-38-MM is 33% less than their former compound and provides ideal cleaning, deburring and brightening at 0.5% by volume, equating to an in-flow decrease of 50%. Due to additional efficiencies put in place by the manufacturing engineers, total consumption has plummeted from an average of approximately one hundred (100) 275-gallon totes per year of their formerly used product to an average of approximately twenty-five (25) 275-gallon totes of BC L-38-MM per year, a staggering decrease of 75%!
The cycle time required to achieve the desired luster of the finished product was reduced by 28% (down from an average of 35 minutes to 25 minutes), thereby dramatically increasing production output. The finish quality was markedly improved despite the lower concentration and reduced cycle time.
BC L-38-MM is formulated with increased levels of detergency and, over a short period of time, the surface rust was completely removed from the stainless steel media and has not returned. The vibratory bowls are also cleaner than they have ever been and require little to no maintenance in that regard.