Cleaning Ceramic Latex Molds

Ceramic molds, widely-used in the rubber industry, necessitate special methods to assure proper cleaning. The tough soils involved - baked on carbonaceous soils of rubber, latex, and release agents - must be removed completely or they can interfere with forming and releasing of product. This interference can lead to roughage, breaks, and tears. The time allotted for cleaning, however, must be kept short to minimize down time and achieve optimum production, particularly in high-volume facilities. Previous cleaning operations frequently relied on either hand scrubbing with abrasives, which took large amounts of time and effort, or dipping the molds in a strong mineral acid, which created safety problems as well as disposal issues. Today the most efficient method of removing difficult soils and keeping production moving is ultrasonic cleaning. Ultrasound provides the safest, most widely-used and effective means of mechanical agitation. It provides the thorough, noncontact, overall scrubbing action needed to remove the stubborn baked-on carbonaceous soils found on ceramic latex molds without scratching or abrasion.