Aerospace Parts Cleaning Systems for Aviation Manufacturing
Aerospace Parts Cleaning Systems for Aviation Manufacturing
Aerospace manufacturers and MRO facilities require consistent, repeatable cleaning processes for aircraft components. Oils, coolants, grease, chips, particulate, and other manufacturing contaminants can interfere with painting, coating, bonding, plating, assembly, and other downstream processes.
Alliance Manufacturing engineers and manufactures industrial parts washers and cleaning systems for aviation and aerospace applications. Our aqueous parts washers and vacuum degreasing systems can be configured around part geometry, material, contamination, production volume, cleanliness requirements, and drying needs.
Our systems are used to clean landing gear, brakes, rotors, propellers, shrouds, gears, pistons, manifolds, crankshafts, engine components, hydraulic components, and other precision-machined aerospace parts.
Aerospace Parts and Components We Clean
Aerospace components can vary significantly in size, material, geometry, and cleaning requirements. Alliance cleaning systems can be engineered for applications involving:
- Aircraft engine components and cylinder assemblies
- Crankshafts and pistons
- Landing gear components
- Hydraulic manifolds and components
- Brakes, rotors, gears, and propellers
- Precision-machined components
- Aircraft trays and production containers
- Aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, Inconel, and composite components
Cleaning parameters are selected around the specific component and process requirements rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all cleaning cycle.
Precision Cleaning for Complex Aerospace Components
Blind holes, deep bores, threaded ports, internal passages, and recessed surfaces can trap oils, coolant, chips, and particulate. Effective aerospace parts cleaning may combine multiple technologies and process stages, including:
- Multi-stage spray or immersion washing
- Targeted cleaning for difficult geometries
- High-efficiency filtration
- Controlled wash temperature and chemistry
- Final rinsing for removal of remaining residue
- Heated or high-velocity air drying
- Custom fixturing for proper part exposure
The cleaning system is engineered around the component’s geometry, contamination, material, production requirements, and required cleanliness level.
Common Aerospace Cleaning Applications
Hydraulic Components
Hydraulic manifolds, valve bodies, actuators, and other components may contain internal passages and cross-drilled holes where machining debris and oils can remain trapped. Cleaning systems can incorporate targeted spray, filtration, controlled rinsing, and drying to remove contamination from both external and internal surfaces.
Landing Gear Components
Landing gear components can combine large structural surfaces with precision bores, bearing surfaces, hydraulic features, and other close-tolerance areas. Cleaning systems can be configured to remove grease, hydraulic fluid, machining oils, chips, and other contamination while accommodating large or irregular components.
Aircraft Engine Components
Engine components such as cylinder barrels, crankshafts, pistons, and assemblies may require removal of machining oils, grease, chips, and other manufacturing residue. Alliance has engineered cleaning systems for aircraft engine cylinder barrels, crankshafts, and cylinder assemblies.
Aerospace Parts Washer Systems
The right aerospace parts washer depends on component size and geometry, contamination, production volume, cleanliness requirements, and desired level of automation.
Conveyorized Parts Washers
Conveyorized systems provide repeatable, continuous cleaning for production environments. Multiple wash, rinse, filtration, and drying stages can be incorporated into the process.
Cabinet Parts Washers
Cabinet washers provide batch cleaning for larger, heavier, or variable-size aerospace components. Programmable wash, rinse, and dry cycles help provide consistent processing.
Rotary and Indexing Parts Washers
Rotary and indexing systems provide controlled part positioning through multiple cleaning stages and can be configured for applications requiring targeted exposure to cleaning sprays.
Vacuum Degreasing Systems
Vacuum degreasing systems provide a closed-loop approach to removing oils and hydrocarbons from precision components. They can be considered for applications where vacuum-based cleaning is appropriate for the required process.
Custom Aerospace Cleaning Systems
Complex aerospace applications may require specialized fixturing, multiple cleaning stages, controlled drying, filtration, or automated part handling. Alliance can engineer custom cleaning systems around these application-specific requirements.
Aerospace Cleanliness and Process Control
Aerospace cleaning requirements vary by component, customer, program, material, and downstream process. Depending on the application, manufacturers may need documented and repeatable control of wash temperature, cycle time, chemistry concentration, filtration, rinse quality, and drying.
Alliance designs cleaning systems around the customer’s specified process and cleanliness requirements. The resulting process can then be evaluated and qualified by the customer against applicable specifications.
Cleanliness verification may include visual inspection, water-break testing, gravimetric or filter-based particulate analysis, microscopic particle analysis, or other application-specific methods.
Drying and FOD Prevention
Removing contamination is only part of the cleaning process. Aerospace components must also be properly dried without introducing new particulate or leaving trapped moisture in blind holes and internal passages.
Depending on the application, drying can include heated blow-off, high-velocity air, controlled drying temperatures, and extended drying cycles for complex components. Drying is designed as part of the overall cleaning process rather than treated as an afterthought.
Aircraft Component Cleaning
One recent application involved aluminum, stainless steel, composite, titanium, and Inconel aircraft components. The cleaning process needed to remove cutting oils, soluble coolant, vibratory residue, grease, lapping compound, and chips while producing visually clean, oil-break-free, dry parts.
Alliance supplied an Aquamaster CB-1600E conveyorized aqueous parts washer with heated washing and rinsing, heated blow-off drying, micro-filtration, and programmable PLC controls
Need help determining the right cleaning system for your aerospace application?
