Sustainable Surface Cleaning and Pretreatment for Aerospace Materials Utilizing Environmentally Safe Aqueous Chemicals

Surface preparation for Aerospace materials is critical for manufacturing processes, final performance and long-term functionality. Data for environmentally safe aqueous surface cleaning, deoxidizing and preparation processes will be presented. Prior art has been limited by the difficulty in removing the oxides and residues associated with material processing and/or a heat treatment process without using toxic and hazardous materials such as hydrofluoric or chromic acids. These chemicals pose extreme hazards for operators and significant liability risks for the companies using the processes and those disposing of the waste. Application of the processes on aluminum, titanium, Inconel, and composite aerospace materials has been demonstrated. Substrate surfaces have exhibited water break free conditions without etching. Etching to remove surface anomalies due to fabrication has also been demonstrated. The processes have been performed using immersion, spray and hand application. Glass and ceramic materials have also been deoxidized to provide clear and bondable surfaces. The family of cleaners is tailorable for specific application on welding, bonding, chemical film, anodize, joining, and painting processes. A variety of surface coatings (including Anodize and Alodine^® 1200S) have been applied with excellent adhesion and corrosion resistance. These processes are operator safe and allow for solution disposal into municipal waste systems.