Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces – auxiliary compositions – Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing – For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-03
2003-04-15
Gupta, Yogendra N. (Department: 1751)
Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces, auxiliary compositions
Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing
For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
C510S417000, C510S506000, C510S434000, C510S505000, C510S422000, C510S365000, C510S421000, C510S432000, C510S405000, C510S510000, C510S475000, C510S512000, C134S002000, C134S040000, C134S041000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06548468
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to cleaning hard surfaces, particularly metal surfaces, more particularly aluminum and aluminum alloy metal surfaces, still more particularly those that have been initially painted because of their use on the exterior of engines and then heavily soiled by organic deposits during use in engines, so that much or all of the surface to be cleaned has been covered with a tightly adhering carbonaceous deposit at least 0.2 millimeters (hereinafter usually abbreviated as “mm”) thick and often, over parts of the surface, more than 1 mm thick. In order to produce an optimal result, all of the carbonaceous deposit and any remaining paint must be completely removed, without excessive attack on the metal surface. In some instances, however, it may be satisfactory to remove at least, with increasing preference in the order given, 50, 75, 85, 95, 97, or 99% of the soil and/or paint. Such cleaning by chemical means is believed to have been practical heretofore only with the aid of cleaning liquids that contain substantial concentrations of organic solvents that are legally defined as Volatile Organic Compounds (“VOC's”) by the U.S. Clean Air Act and related legislation and regulations. Emissions of VOC's are tightly restricted, so that their use is advantageously omitted or at least reduced as much as possible, consistent with the task to be accomplished. Accordingly, a major object of this invention is to provide a solvent-free, or at least a VOC-free, aqueous liquid process and/or composition, or at least a process and/or composition with a solvent and VOC concentration considerably reduced below currently required levels, that is suitable for cleaning such heavily soiled and usually also painted metal surfaces within a practically useful time. Other alternative and/or concurrent objects are to provide a more economical process, a faster process and/or one requiring less expensive equipment for operation on a large scale, and to reduce hazards of fire and of damage to the environment from discharge of used cleaner. Still other and more detailed objects of the invention will become apparent from the further description below.
Except in the claims and the operating examples, or where otherwise expressly indicated, all numerical quantities in this description indicating amounts of material or conditions of reaction and/or use are to be understood as modified by the word “about” in describing the broadest scope of the invention. Practice within the numerical limits stated is generally preferred, however. Also, throughout the description, unless expressly stated to the contrary: percent, “parts of”, and ratio values are by weight or mass; the term “polymer” includes “oligomer”, “copolymer”, “terpolymer” and the like; the description of a group or class of materials as suitable or preferred for a given purpose in connection with the invention implies that mixtures of any two or more of the members of the group or class are equally suitable or preferred; description of constituents in chemical terms refers to the constituents at the time of addition to any combination specified in the description or of generation in situ within the composition by chemical reaction(s) noted in the specification between one or more newly added constituents and one or more constituents already present in the composition when the other constituents are added, and does not preclude unspecified chemical interactions among the constituents of a mixture once mixed; specification of constituents in ionic form additionally implies the presence of sufficient counterions to produce electrical neutrality for the composition as a whole and for any substance added to the composition; any counterions thus implicitly specified preferably are selected from among other constituents explicitly specified in ionic form, to the extent possible; otherwise such counterions may be freely selected, except for avoiding counterions that act adversely to an object of the invention; the word “mole” means “gram mole”, and the word itself and all of its grammatical variations may be used for any chemical species defined by all of the types and numbers of atoms present in it, irrespective of whether the species is ionic, neutral, unstable, hypothetical, or in fact a stable neutral substance with well defined molecules; the term “paint” and all of its grammatical variations include all materials known by more specialized names such as “lacquer”, “vamish”, “shellac”, “primer”, “electropaint”, “top coat”, “color coat”, “clear coat”, “autodeposited coatings”, “radiation curable coatings”, “cross-linkable coatings”, and the like and their corresponding grammatical variations; and the terms “solution”, “soluble”, “homogeneous”, and the like are to be understood as including not only true equilibrium solutions or homogeneity but also dispersions that show no visually detectable tendency toward phase separation over a period of observation of at least 100, or preferably at least 1000, hours during which the material is mechanically undisturbed and the temperature of the material is maintained within the range of 18-25° C.
The term “aluminum” when used hereafter in this specification, unless the context requires otherwise, is to be understood to include pure aluminum and all the alloys of aluminum that contain at least, with increasing preference in the order given, 45, 55, 75, or 85% of aluminum by weight.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One major embodiment of the invention is a process for cleaning a metal surface that has on it a carbonaceous soil formed by contact of hot gaseous products of combustion of, or of fuel or lubricant materials for, an internal combustion engine with said metal surface and/or with paint originally present on said metal surface before it was brought into contact with said hot products of combustion of, or fuel or lubricant materials for, an internal combustion engine. The process is particularly suited to, but is not limited to, cleaning metal surfaces that have, during their use before cleaning, formed external surfaces of an internal combustion engine. This cleaning process most preferably results in a surface completely cleaned of the carbonaceous soil formed as described above and of any paint originally present on the surface. A process according to the invention includes an operation of contacting the surface to be cleaned with an aqueous liquid cleaning composition that comprises, preferably consists essentially of, or more preferably consists of, water and the following components:
(A) a component of inorganic alkalinizing agents; and
(B) a component of surfactant molecules that are not inorganic alkalinizing agents, at least part of said surfactant molecules being nonionic surfactants; and, optionally, one or more of the following dissolved, stably dispersed, or both dissolved and stably dispersed components:
(C) a component of hydrotroping agent that is not part of any of immediately previously recited components (A) and (B);
(D) a component of corrosion inhibitor that is not part of any of the previously recited components (A) through (C);
(E) a component of sequestering agent that is not part of any of the previously recited components (A) through (D);
(F) a component of coloring agent that is not part of any of the previously recited components (A) through (E);
(G) a component of preservative material that is not part of any of the previously recited components (A) through (F); and
(H) a component of organic solvent that is not more than 20% of the total composition.
In this description, “stably dispersed” means that the component so described can be dispersed by mixing, within 1 hour of its introduction into the liquid phase in which the component in question is described as stably dispersed, to produce a liquid mixture which has only one bulk phase detectable with unaided normal human vision and does not spontaneously develop any separate bulk phase detectable with normal
Boulos Mervet S.
Caldwell Craig S.
Cameron Mary K.
Gupta Yogendra N.
Harper Stephen D.
Henkel Corporation
Webb Gregory E.
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