Fiber Optic Cleaning Swabs
View our catalog of precision swabs from ITW Chemtronics.
Transcript:
This is a brief introduction to selecting a precision swab for use in laboratories, clean rooms, electronic assembly, rework and repair of electronics. I'll be speaking in generalities, but you may choose a swab for a specific reason or for a very specific job. Swabs can be used as applicators or removers. Let's discuss their use as removers first, specifically removing contamination in soils from delicate or precision parts.
Swabs generally are effective tools for three reasons. One is they can clean a small area as opposed to exposing the whole device to the cleaning solvents. Second, swabs are good at applying gentle scrubbing action. And third, swabs are good at getting into tight little crevices and things where other cleaning devices uh can't get into and you can precisely get in and pull that contamination out. And really, choosing a swab is about matching the cleaning job requirements with the materials and geometries of the swab. Essentially, the right tool for the job. Swabs are basically a wipe on a stick. And the properties that we want these swabs to have are absorbency because after all, we want the swab to pull the soil, absorb the soil from the device we're trying to clean. We want it to be durable so that the solvent we use to clean doesn't harm the swab or damage the swab. Cleanliness because we want the swab to always pick up contaminants, not deposit any new contaminants. And then geometry. We want the swab to fit the precise area or precise crevice that we're trying to clean.
There are many materials used to make swab heads. But let's discuss the most common head materials found in the precision cleaning environment. Cotton is very absorbent and in many cases a good cleaning choice. Cotton is tolerant of cleaning solvents. However, irregularities from being a naturally derived material limit its usefulness. Unless carefully made and engineered, cotton swabs can often shed fibers. Some cotton swabs are engineered to be very clean. For example, this swab can be used in many precision applications. It uses special cotton fibers that are wound very tightly.
The second material we use for these precision swabs is a polyurethane foam. Polyurethane foams are absorbent and generally clean. It tolerates the most frequently used cleaning solvents such as isopropyl alcohol. However, more aggressive cleaning solvents such as acetone will weaken the foam structure and it will shed particles. But that is not a problem because we have cleaner materials like polyester. Polyester uh is also a very useful and popular material to make clean room swabs. Polyester is engineered clean from the beginning and it is very tolerant of almost all cleaning solvents. This polyester swab 36060660 will not break down from aggressive solvents like acetone and it will not break down from aggressive scrubbing. A fourth material is a um what we call a microfiber or micro denure and this material is very very absorbent like cotton u but also very clean like polyester. And this is uh a very high-end kind of uh cleaning material very good on smooth surfaces like glass uh very absorbent.
Now let's talk about swab handles. The materials to make swab handles are chosen for these properties: stiffness, chemical tolerance, and static dissipation. Wooden handles provide good stiffness and good chemical tolerance. But like cotton, wood handles are not as clean as required by many precision applications because they're a natural material. Engineered plastics are chosen most frequently. Polymers and plastics can be engineered for many properties. A simple plastic like polyropylene has excellent chemical tolerance and can be engineered to be stiffer or softer and more flexible is required. They can even be engineered into chemically resistant static dissipative alloy.
