• Clean Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2006

Aqueous cleaning agents which are considered to be environmental-friendly and promising alternative ones among various industrial cleaning agents were evaluated in this words. In order to formulate aqueous cleaning agents, primary alcohol ethoxylates with 3, 5 and 7 moles of ethylene oxides among nonionic surfactants were selected as main surfactants. And anionic surfactants and alcohols were chosen as their cosurfactants. Builders such as NaOH, KOH, $Na_2CO_3$ and $NaHCO_3$ were also evaluated as additives for improvement of cleaning efficiency of aqueous cleaning agents. The experimental results of cleaning ability tests show that introduction of anionic surfactant TLS as cosurfactant in alcohol ethoxylate-based aqueous solution gives the best cleaning efficiency for removing mixed soil of cutting oil and grease. NaOH and $Na_2CO_3$ are also shown to play an important role for improvement of cleaning efficiency in a aqueous cleaning agent.

• Clean Technology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.103-116
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• 2010

It has been reported that the LCD panel market in the FPD industry is become growing and its panel size and production capacity are increasing, and its manufacturing technique is improved every year. FPD manufacturing process requires high cleanliness in its overall process. Especially, FPD cleaning process which accounts for 30~40% of total manufacturing process is very important in its technological and productivity aspects. It is difficult to remove residual liquid-crystal in the fine gap after liquid-crystal injection process in the cell. In this study, aqueous cleaning agents with excellent cleaning, rinsing, and penetrating abilities, but minimum ion content for LCD panel were formulated through mixing glycol ether-type and glycol dimethyl ether-type solvents and nonionic surfactants which are widely used as raw materials for alternative cleaning agents because of environmental regulation at home and abroad. And the formulated cleaning agents were applied to clean FPD liquid crystal after its injection in the cell. Physical properties, cleaning efficiencies, and rinsabilities of the formulated cleaning agents with different combination ratios of solvents, surfactants and additives were measured. As experimental results, the formulated cleaning agents showed higher wetting indices and cloud point than the traditional commercial cleaning agent. And it was found that cleaning efficiencies of the formulated cleaning agents were influenced by the structure of main solvents in them and the types of liquid crystal as soil for cleaning. The best cleaning agents among the formulated cleaning agents showed similar cleaning efficiencies and better rinsabilities compared to the conventional cleaning agent.

• Clean Technology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.143-150
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• 2007

The objective of this study is to develop hydrocarbon-based cleaning agents by blending paraffins, glycol ethers and siloxanes in oder to effectively clean contaminants such as flux, solder and grease. And the effect of cleaning ability by wetting index, aniline points and solubility parameter of the formulated hydrocarbon-based cleaning agents were studied in this work. The formulated hydrocarbon-based cleaning agents were prepared on the base of physical properties of their individual components. Wetting indexes and aniline points of their were measured through experiments and solubility parameters of their were calculated based on the Hansen's equation. In this study, evaluation of cleaning ability by cleaning agents were carried out using contaminants such as flux, solder, and grease. The experimental results showed that the cleaning ability of the formulated cleaning agents was excellent in cleaning contaminants such as flux, solder and grease and that the influencing parameters on their cleaning efficiency were found to be different according to contaminant types. MC($20.3MPa^{1/2}$), DF-1 ($24.2MPa^{1/2}$) and DF-2($21.5MPa^{1/2}$) with similar solubility parameter as flux ($21.3MPa^{1/2}$) showed 100% cleaning efficiency within 3 minutes in flux cleaning. And CFC-113, MC and 1,1,1-TCE with low aniline point less than $-20^{\circ}C$ showed excellent cleaning efficiency in solder cleaning. DG-1($16.2\;MPa^{1/2}$) and DG-2($15.5\;MPa^{1/2}$) with similar solubility parameter as grease($15.0{\sim}17.0\;MPa^{1/2}$) showed relatively low cleaning efficiency of grease, but CFC-113 and MC with high wetting index and low aniline point showed good cleaning efficiency in grease cleaning. As a result of this study, the hydrocarbon-based cleaning agents alternative to regulated cleaning agents such as CFC-113, 1,1,1-TCE and MC were able to be developed through properly blending paraffins, glycol ethers and siloxanes for cleaning flux, solder and grease. And it can be shown that various influencing parameters of cleaning efficiency such as wetting index, aniline point, solubility parameter and etc. of the non-aqueous cleaning agent should be reviewed for prediction of their cleaning ability and can be applied to formulation of cleaning agents.

• Clean Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.81-90
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• 2009

In this study various cleaning evaluation methods were tested and comparatively evaluated to help cleaning industry. In order to select alternative cleaning agents objectively and systematically, various cleaning evaluation methods such as gravimetric, optically simulated electron emission (OSEE), contact angle, and analytical instrument methods were employed for cleaning contaminants such as flux, solder and grease. The analytical instruments used in this work were Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The gravimetric method was able to measure cleaning efficiencies easily and simply, but it was not easy to analyze them precisely because of its limitation in the gravimetric measurement. However, the OSEE technique was able to measure quickly and precisely the clean ability of cleaning agents in comparison with the gravimetric method. The contact angle method was found to be necessary for taking special precaution in its application to the cleaning evaluation due to possible formation of tiny organic film on the substrate surface which might be generated from contaminants and cleaning agents. In case of precision analysis that cannot be done by gravimetric method, fine analytical instruments such as UV-VIS, FTIR and HPLC could be used in analyzing trace amount of flux, solder and grease quantitatively, which were extracted from the surface by special solvents.

• Clean Technology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.172-181
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• 2010

Hydrofluoroethers (HFEs) with fluoride molecules in their structure which are evaluated as the third generation replacement alternatives to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are known to be excellent for removal of nanoparticles and fluoride-type soils due to their low surface tension and high wetting index. In addition, HFEs have good physical properties with no flash point and excellent drying characteristics. But, HFEs also have shortcomings in that they are not effective for removal of organic soils due to their poor solubility in soil. In this study, $C_5$ HFE-based cleaning agents were formulated through addition of solvents such as isopropyl alcohol (IPA), ethyleneglycol monoether (EG), propyleneglycol monoethylether (PM) to HFE-7100 [$CF_3CF_2CF_2CF_2OCH_3$] or HFE-mec-f [$CF_3CHF=CF_2OCH_2CF_3$] with its maximum amount, respectively, in order to have no flash point for the safety in the working environment. These solvents are known to be excellent for dissolving organics in soil. Their physical properties and cleaning abilities for fluxes, water-insoluble cutting oils, and fluoride-type oils were evaluated and compared with those of other cleaning agents with single components. The experimental results show that the HFE-based formulated cleaning agents have various good physical properties which are almost similar to those of a single type of HFE cleaner. They show excellent cleaning ability for fluxes, water-insoluble cutting oils, and fluoride-type oils. These results indicate that the HFE-based formulated cleaning agents can be applicable to various industrial cleaning fields because of their good physical properties and cleaning abilities for various soils.

• Clean Technology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 2011

In this study, evaluation tests for cleaning performance of various cleaning agents and selection of optimal ultrasonic cleaning parameters were executed to develop an efficient cleaning process in remanufacturing of laser copy machine. Cleaning performance tests were executed with 8 cleaning agents (A~H) to remove the contaminants of oil-ink, toner particles, and shoe polish. Physical properties and foamability tests were also applied. For 3 types of contaminants, cleaning agent G showed superior cleaning performance compared to agent A which has being used at a remanufacturing of laser copy machine in Korea. With cleaning agents selected in pre-tests, ultrasonic cleaning tests were executed to remove real contaminants on the parts of used digital laser copy machine parts. Cleaning agent G at 28 kHz ultrasonic frequency showed faster cleaning performance compared to agent A and other frequencies. The productivity and economic efficiency in remanufacturing of laser copy machine are expected to increase by adapting agent G and 28 kHz frequency at ultrasonic cleaning process.

• Clean Technology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.306-313
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• 2011

Flux or solder is used in soldering process for manufacturing electronic parts such as printed circuit boards (PCB). After soldering process, residual flux and solder paste on the parts should be removed since their residuals could cause performance degradation or failure of parts due to their corrosion and electric leakage. Ozone depletion substances such as 1,1,1- trichloroethane (TCE) and HCFC-141b have widely been using for removal of residual flux and solder paste after soldering process In manufacturing of electronic parts until now. In this study, non-aqueous cleaning agents without flash point were developed and applied to industrial field for replacement of cleaning agents with ozone depletion. In order to develop non-aqueous cleaning agents without ethers, esters, fluoride- type solvents. And their physical properties and cleaning abilities were evaluated, and they were applied to industrial fields for cleaning of flux and solder on the PCB. And vacuum distillation apparatus were operated to determine their operating conditions and recycling yields for recycling of used cleaning agents formulated in this study. As a result of physical properties measurement of our formulated cleaning agents, they were expected to have good wetting and penetrating power since their surface tensions were relatively low as 18.0~20.4 dyne/$cm^2$ and their wetting indices are relatively large. And some cleaning agents holding fluoride-type solvents as their components did not have any flash point and they seemed to be safe in their handling and storage. The cleaning experimental results showed that some cleaning agents were better in their cleaning of flux and solder paste than 1,1,1-TCE and HCFC-141b. And industrial application results of the formulated cleaning agents for cleaning PCB indicated that they can be applicable to industry due to their good cleaning capability in comparison with HCFC-141b. The recycling experiments of the used formulated cleaning agents through a vacuum distillation apparatus also showed that their 91.9~97.5% could be recycled with its proper operating conditions.

• Clean Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2008

In order to choose alternative environmental-friendly cleaning agents, it is very important in the present point that the systematic selection procedures should be introduced and applied to the industry through the evaluation of their cleaning ability, environmental characteristics, and economical factors, and that the objective and effective evaluation methods of cleanliness should be established for the industry. Thus, a novel cleaning evaluation method utilizing optically stimulated electron emission (OSEE) among various methods of cleaning ability was studied in this study. The contaminants used in this cleaning experiments were flux, solder, grease, cutting oil, and mixed soil of 35% grease and 65% cutting oil. The cleaning agents developed or prepared in our laboratory were employed and their cleaning ability were comparatively evaluated by the OSEE, gravimetry and contact angle methods. The experimental results in this work showed that flux cleaning efficiency measured by the OSEE method was similar to that of the gravimetric method, but that the OSEE method could not be compared with gravimetric method for the case of solder or grease cleaning because the contaminants radiate or absorb ultra-violet light. In case of cutting oil cleaning, the gravimetric method indicated its limitation of cleaning efficiency of cutting oil since it showed cleaning efficiency of 100%, even though residual soil remaining on the substrate surface a little after its cleaning. The comparative experimental results of cleaning ability evaluated by the OSEE- and contact angle measurement methods showed that they were similar in case of cleaning of flux, mixed soil and cutting oil. It was judged that the contact angle measurement method could evaluate the cleaning ability more precisely than the OSEE method for cleaning solder and grease.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.688-694
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• 2009

A spray-type cleaning agent in utilizing dust-remover on PCB was chosen to study the cleanliness test and efficiency. In order to choose alternative environmental-friendly cleaning agents, it is important that the systematic selection procedures should be introduced and applied through the evaluation of their cleaning ability, environmental characteristics, and economical factors, and that the objective and effective evaluation methods of cleanliness should be established for the industry. A novel cleaning evaluation method with scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray analysis of surface observation evaluation method and an infra-red thermography camera(THERMOVISION A20 model) was studied in this work. The sound card(CT-2770 model) cut by $2{\times}2cm$ size was used as a part, and before and after the spray cleaning, the cleanliness was observed by the image analyzer of SEM and further the removal efficiency of dust was quantitatively evaluated by the component analysis of EDX. For the parts of P4TE model motherboard and IPC-A-36 PCB plate, before and after the spray cleaning, temperature differences were measured and compared at room temperature and 50 oven temperature by an infra-red thermography camera in the contaminants of dust and iron powder.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.267-277
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• 2008

Benzene and ethylbenzene (BE), the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are common constituents of cleaning and degreasing agents, paints, pesticides, personal care products, gasoline and solvents. VOCs are evaporated at room temperature and most of them exhibit acute and chronic toxicity to human. Chronic exposure of benzene is responsible for myeloid leukemia and also ethylbenzene is also recognized as a possible carcinogen. To evaluate the BE effect on human, whole human genome 35 K oligonucleotide microarray were screened for the identification of the differential expression profiling. We identified 280 up-regulated and 201 down-regulated genes changed by more than 1.5 fold by BE exposure. Functional analysis was carried out by using DAVID bioinformatics software. Clustering of these differentially expressed genes were associated with immune response, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, toll-like signaling pathway, small cell lung cancer, immune response, apoptosis, p53 signaling pathway and MAPKKK cascade possibly constituting alternative or subordinate pathways of hematotoxicity and immune toxicity. Gene ontology analysis methods including biological process, cellular components, molecular function and KEGG pathway thus provide a fundamental basis of the molecular pathways through BEs exposure in human lymphoma cells. This may provides a valuable information to do further analysis to explore the mechanism of BE induced hematotoxicity.