Safiyet Kurklu writes:
I work for a manufacturing company. In the production plant we use neat mineral oil for processing metal parts. Afterwards we degrease the parts using a solvent degreasing agent in a dip tank. The solvent is non aromatic alyphatic hydrocarbon. The degreased parts are then electrostatic powder coated.
As we degrease the parts, the amount of oil in the solvent is increased. And after reaching a certain amount of oil level, naturally we cannot degrease the parts properly and we replace the used solvent with the fresh one.
Until know we decided on replacing used solvent with the fresh one experimetally. It was ok for the small quantities of parts and solvent.
But now we will increase the production quantity. This means our production speed will increase and we will not be able to make eye control to determine the oil level in the solvent in order to decide on the time we will replace the used solvent with the fresh one.
Therefore, I need a methodology to determine the time to replace the used solvent.
I thought of getting samples from the "solvent with oil" everyday and tracking the refractive index of it.
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I made some searches and obtained the following info:
1)I should use a hand refractometer. Because they are cheaper than the desktop ones.
2) I learned the refractive index value of the solvent from its manufacture. It is 1.4150 for the clean solvent
3) I learned the refractive index value of the mineral oil from its manufacture. It varies between 1.482 and 1.492
4) The refractive index(nD) scala of the refractomer must be between 1.4000 - 1.500. As far as I see, the only hand held refractometer with such wider range is Atago R-5000
When you read the above explanation, you may think that the above methodology is usable.
However, During my searches and talks, I could not find any one who is using the above methodology for the solvents.
I need to talk to the people who have experience about the above subject and discuss the con's and pro's of the above methodology.
I would appreciate any comment and bit of info.
Many thanks
Concerns with the method
