This site is all about solvent-based precision cleaning. We've tried hard to make this site the industry's most accurate, up-to-date resource about this demanding science. We've attempted to identify all information you might need as you define your application and present it in a fair, balanced manner. We've also tried to identify some of the "politically-correct" mis-information that's floating around in the market today. We sincerely hope this site helps you find the answer that is best for you.

And now, a brief word about our own bias. For many of the toughest cleaning applications, such as getting under tiny BGA chips on circuit boards [left], we advocate the use of the Vertrel^® family of solvents and specialty fluids made by the good people at DuPont. The Vertrel^® products are great cleaners which also are ozone-safe, nonflammable and generally non-toxic. They deliver great results at very affordable prices.

But the Vertrel^® solvents are not right for every application. Like any good tool, the solvent has to fit the job This site has been designed to highlight those instances in which Vertrel^® is the best choice as well as the different circumstances where other technologies might be a better answer. Sure, we want you to use Vertrel^®. But we want you to chose it for the right reasons and with the right expectations.

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Here's a general map of the information included in this site:

Applications	General discussions of the different applications in which Vertrel® solvents are used, how they work, the equipment required, and what you can expect. Also featuring a useful, if over-simplified, chart to highlight the solvent that will work best in your application. A great starting point
Case Studies	Real stories about real cleaning problems from real customers (although some names have been changed to protect trade secrets)
Frequently Asked Questions	Exactly what the name says, and "nothing but the FAQs, ma'am." Tons of good info, detailed performance numbers, cost data, all updated frequently
Product Specifications	The official DuPont product specifications, highlighting applications, environmental data, materials compatibility, and purity specifications (PDF format)
Where to Buy	Here's your local Vertrel® sales rep -- names and addresses for local technical help, shipping info, returns and more
Product Safety Data Sheets	The official DuPont product specifications, featuring detailed data about the proper use of the product, detailing ingredients, hazard warnings, and toxicity studies (PDF format)

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In the beginning people degreased metal parts and defluxed their electronics with all sorts of nasty chemicals. For metal cleaning people widely used perchloroethylene, methylene chloride, methyl chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, and various hydrocarbons like mineral spirits. In general these were great cleaners but they were loaded with what we now know today were major health and safety problems. For electrical systems, acetone and alcohol where widely used, but they were (and are) smelly and flammable. There were not many cleaning choices, and all of them were bad.

In the early 1930s, a division of General Motors invented chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as part of a research effort to develop non-poisonous refrigerants for air conditioning. In time, it was noted that these chemicals also were very good cleaners. By the late 1950s the rapid rise in electronics created an opportunity for CFCs to be marketed as safety solvents to replace the old-style cleaners. CFCs and a few other fast-evaporating chemicals were used to clean electronic circuits, optical devices, precision mechanical parts and even ceramics and plastics.

Everybody liked to use CFCs as solvents. They were cheap, cleaned great, dried almost instantly and were really easy to handle. They had some secondary characteristics that were equally useful: they didn't burn, they didn't cause cancer, they didn't smell, they were easy to recycle, and the machines they used -- vapor degreasers -- were straightforward to run and inexpensive to buy.

Then came the ozone issue and we had to find new ways to clean.

• Dilution -- First everybody tried diluting the CFCs or switching to less-harmful ozone-depleting solvents, but that was a short-term answer. Another quick option was to switch back to acetone and alcohol. But those safety issues made people nervous (there are a lot more lawyers now than in the old days). Plus many of those cleaners had other environmental problems, so it was an "out of the frying pan and into the fire" scenario.
  
  
• New Fluorocarbons -- Chemical engineers also tried modifying CFCs to make them less damaging to the ozone layer. One of their big successes was a hydrofluorocarbon, HCFC-141b. Another development was HCFC-225 from Japan. But this R&D got very expensive very quickly, which discouraged many smaller chemical companies. And, while the scientists had some successes, a few of their new products had other problems, such as the significant toxicity problems of HFC-123.
  
  
• Semi-Aqueous Systems -- In the mid- to late-1980s some very clever engineers found a few new chemistries that were completely safe for the ozone layer. These products were made from a wide variety of materials: from petroleum, long-chain alcohols, hydrocarbons, NMP, citrus by-products and other feedstocks. Another strong option was the adoption of water-based or aqueous cleaning systems, which are still widely used today. Unfortunately, all of these options had problems. They were either not ozone-safe, or not plastic-safe, or slow-drying, or energy instensive, or smelly, or flammable (or some combination of all of the above). They also required complex new cleaning machines with hefty price tags. None of them delivered the fast and easy cleaning of the old-style CFCs. Despite these barriers, people paid the price and these products were very widely accepted; some are still marketed today.
  
  
• Long-Term Answers -- But the research on the CFC replacements kept chugging along. Gradually more sophisticated answers began to arrive. 3M Corp. introduced a product line based on HFE solvents in 1996. But in 1995 Dupont Company was able to produce test quantities of a completely ozone-safe material, called HFC-43-10. In 1997 they commercialized their first products under the brand name Vertrel^® . In 2000 they introduced the "C" series which offered equivilent cleaning at lower costs. Customers responded eagerly because these products delivered the easy handling and speedy cleaning that the old CFCs provided, without the hassles of the older replacements.
  

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In 2001, DuPont Company appointed MicroCare Marketing Services to be the official master distributor for the Vertrel^® products for all of North America. MicroCare Marketing Services is a division of MicroCare Corp. We stock generous inventories of the Vertrel^® products and ship them all over the continent from our 40,000 sq. ft (4,000 s.m.) warehouse in New Britain, CT.

MicroCare itself is a privately-held corporation based in New Britain, Connecticut, USA, about 100 miles/150 km northeast of New York City. MicroCare was established in 1983 to provide precision cleaning systems for the benchtop. Today MicroCare is a dynamic, fast-moving team with two hundred distributors, twenty regional sales representatives and a lean but talented headquarters staff. Overall sales have increased steadily for more than a decade, with growth averaging better than 15% annually. MicroCare products are now available in twenty four European countries, four Latin American countries, all major Asian markets and in eleven languages.

MicroCare is part of a larger organization, called The Jones Companies which consists of eight different companies. One of MicroCare's sister companies might be able to help you lower your costs or improve your processes. Here's a short list of names you might want to know:

R. M. Jones Environmental Services All full-service environmental services firm, RMJES can handle virtually any type of hazwaste disposal requirements. Working in conjunction with some of the nation's best TSDFs and disposal sites, RMJES can handle hazwaste disposal, recycling,  site remediation, site reviews and related services. Contact: Roger Bellmore Tel: (203) 980-8146 Email: delete.rogerb@rmjonesenviro.com Gilbert & Jones, Inc. New England's fastest-growing supplier of industrial chemicals for the metal plating and waste-water treatment industries. ISO 9001:2000 certified Contact: George Gilbert, Pres. Tel: 800-577-2962 Fax: 860-832-8499 Email: delete.geomgilb@aol.com Pearse-Bertram Corp. New England's premier distributor of industrial automation systems, motion control systems, instrumentation and process control products. These include custom-made engineered systems with "First-in-Class" performance.  ISO 9001:2000 certified. Contact: Jon Pearse, President Tel: (860) 678-5151 Fax: 860-678-5157 Email: delete.jpearse@pearse-pearson.com

NOTE: To confuse spam-spiders, the emails above all have an extra word in them.
Delete that extra word to obtain the correct email address.

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Not to put too fine a point on it, but no web site can document every nook and cranny of every cleaning application. This is a place to get ideas, not to make a final, high-risk, career-busting decision. So if you have more questions, give us a call.

In the same vein, MicroCare publishes this information from sources believed to be accurate. This data is intended for persons having the technical skills to evaluate and use the data properly. MicroCare does not guarantee the accuracy of the data and assumes no liability in connection with damages incurred using it. MicroCare's liability is limited. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.

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This website and all the information contained herein, unless otherwise noted, is the property of MicroCare Corporation, © MicroCare Corporation 2002, 2004, 2008

The MicroCare logo, the MicroCare Marketing Services logo, and the term "MicroCare" are all registered trademarks of MicroCare Corp.

"Genesolv" is a registered trademark of Honeywell Corp. "Lenium", "Axarel" and "Bioact" are registered trademarks of Petroferm Inc. "Ionox" is a registered trademark of Kyzen Corp. "Vertrel" , "Freon", and "Krytox" are all registered trademarks of DuPont Corp. "Novec" is a registered trademark of 3M Corp.

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Please call, fax or email us at MicroCare Marketing Services
for more information about our full line of cleaning answers.