Cleaning
metals
These various products are also used to clean metal surfaces:
before carrying out any phosphating treatment, the surfaces to be treated
must be absolutely clean. This stage is vital because it ensures that
there are no imperfections in the films covering the metal surfaces
since any such imperfections would make them susceptible to localised
corrosion.
Cleaning agents containing purified
phosphoric acid and/or phosphates are used to remove
grease, oil, rust, limescale, glue, etc. from surfaces.
A specific product is selected to remove a specific
type of impurity. For example, acidic or neutral preparations
are more effective in removing limescale, while alkaline
detergents perform better on grease and oily residues.