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Opteon & Vertrel Solvents

Vertrel™ Specialty Fluids

Many industries require the use of specialty fluids to create or maintain their products, and the Vertrel™ specialty fluid portfolio contains solutions to service a broad range of customer needs.

The Chemours Company created Vertrel Specialty fluids as a family of non-flammable versatile fluids usable across many applications, including:

• Electronics defluxing
• Precision cleaning
• Oxygen service cleaning
• Carrier fluid for fluorinated lubricants and silicones
• Aerosol formulations

Features and Benefits

High-performing and effective, Vertrel™ specialty fluids keep businesses ahead in an ever-changing industry. Vertrel™ specialty fluids are:

• Safe to use
• Non-flammable
• Designed to clean a wide range of soils
• Fast, residue-free drying
• Compatible with a broad range of metals, plastics, and elastomers
• Chemically and thermally stable
• Ideal for replacement of nPB and TCE

Specialty Fluid for Evaporative and Brine Cooling

Vertrel™ specialty fluids act as effective vehicles for heat transfer. In evaporative cooling, these fluids are enclosed in a heat cycle system where they come into contact with parts at high temperatures and evaporate to cool the intended component. The vapor is cooled and condensed back into the liquid state to continuously cool down parts that excessive heat could damage.

They can also be used in brine cooling, where they are chilled and circulated through a heat exchanger, cooling the target components.

Vertrel™ specialty fluids are used in applications such as Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) modules and power semiconductors; in motors for the Shinkan-sen (bullet trains in Japan); and in the operation of express elevators around the world.

The benefits of using these fluids include:

• A boiling point of approximately 55 °C (131 °F)
• High latent heat, which translates to more heat removal capability
• Chemical and thermal stability, which ensures that Vertrel™ specialty fluids deliver consistent long-term cooling performance without degrading

Precision Cleaning for a Wide Range of Industries

Developed with performance and the environment in mind, Vertrel™ specialty fluids are used for a variety of cleaning applications. The fluids' low viscosity, low surface tension, and high liquid density enables good wetting in tight places and a thin boundary layer, to clean soils and particles completely.

Vertrel™ specialty fluids portfolio offers broad and versatile product options that are safe and easy to use and include the following benefits:

• Ideal replacement for HCFC-225, Trichloroethylene (TCE), and n-Propyl Bromide (nPB)
• Zero ozone depletion potential (ODP)
• Compatibility with a broad range of substrates
• High solvency for a variety of contaminants
• Efficient cleaning in tight to reach places and complex geometries
• No drying required for increased productivity
• Non-flammability

Industries served include electronics, aerospace, luxury high-end products, medical, military, semiconductor manufacturing, industrial machining, optics, and automotive.

The Vertrel™ specialty fluids portfolio includes azeotropic blends uniquely formulated for optimal performance in vapor degreasers. Vapor degreasing is a precision cleaning technique used to dissolve greases and remove soils from component surfaces. A vapor degreaser is not only a parts cleaning system but also a tight, fast, energy-efficient recycling system that captures and refreshes the solvent with little waste, while leaving components clean, dry, and spot-free.

Vertrel™ specialty fluids can be used a in cold cleaning, wet wipes, or co-solvent processes. This flexibility allows Vertrel™ fluids to be used for a wide range of cleaning applications, including:

Light, Medium, and Heavy Soil Removal

Vertrel™ specialty fluids can remove difficult soils such as greases, waxes, and oils from a range of substrates, including plastics and metal parts. The Vertrel™ fluid portfolio offers products with high solvency to clean a wide variety of hard-to-clean soils without damaging the substrate or leaving behind residue. They are often used in a vapor degreaser, and are ideal for cleaning parts that have complex shapes or holes that would trap other solvents or water.

Defluxing

Vertrel™ specialty fluids are versatile enough to work for almost any electronic defluxing application and are widely used in critical industries such as the military, aerospace, and the medical field. They are uniquely formulated to target polar and nonpolar fluxes used in the manufacturing of circuit boards. Vertrel™ specialty fluids have proven to be the ideal solution for the critical demands of the electronics industry.

Particulate and Ionic Removal

Vertrel™ specialty fluids are very effective in cleaning submicron particulate and ionic soils that adhere to material because of the relationship between the substrate and particulate. Contaminants like fingerprints, dust particles, fibers, and other process contaminants can bond with the surface of the part by some physical force, such as electrostatic forces or a mechanical entrapment due to the surface geometry. Removal of these contaminants requires a solvent that can reduce the laminar boundary layer thickness to allow particles to be washed away by the liquid solvent flow-through.

Optics Cleaning

Vertrel™ specialty fluids are used to remove dust, polishing media, and water spots from optical assemblies and lenses for optimal performance. Also used for optical fibers, Vertrel™ specialty fluids enable effective cleaning and quick drying that ensures a clean joining surface, preventing signal loss due to imperfect joints.

Benefits of Vertrel™ Specialty Fluids Over Aqueous Solutions

Vertrel™ fluids offer several advantages over cleaning with aqueous solutions, including:

• Short cycle times, which increases productivity
• Parts that exit the machine cool, dry, and spot-free
• Lower energy consumption
• Excellent cleaning performance, even on complex geometries and tight clearances
• Easy process monitoring with minimal effort and minimal waste generation
• Easy reclamation
• Compatibility with a broad range of sensitive components (some components or products are sensitive to the high pressures of water cleaning, the heat of washing and/or drying, or surface residues after drying)

Precise Fluid Deposition for A Wide Range of Industries

Vertrel™ specialty fluids are used extensively to precisely deposit adhesives, coatings and lubricants. Applications include:

• Fluorolubricant deposition
• Silicone-/PTFE-based lubricant deposition
• Carrier solvents for spray adhesives
• Coating lenses to reduce reflection by increasing light penetration and lowering glare
• Coating substrates with corrosion inhibitors and other thin films

Vertrel™ specialty fluids are designed to carry and deposit coatings, lubricants, and adhesives during a dipping process, which allows for a quick and accurate transfer. These specialty fluids are particularly useful as carrier fluids in medical applications, silicone deposition, other thin films, and silicone tube swelling. They also carry lubricants in the electronics and automotive industries and are effective for industrial spray adhesives.

Vertrel™ specialty fluids offer:

• High solubility with various types of lubricants and adhesives
• Fast drying properties
• Low surface tension for coating of tight spaces
• The ability to deposit a uniform coating on a substrate
• The ability to easily dissolve silicone lubricants and residues
• The ability to carry up to 8% silicone by weight
• Use with PTFE dry lubricants
• Exceptional smoothness—free of runs and drips
• A simplified dipping process because the material stays in suspension better than with lighter carrying agents
• Superior quality and reduced rework
• Zero ozone depletion potential (ODP)