Microcontaminants are too small to be seen with the naked eye, but they can still have dramatic and even dangerous effects on a wide variety of manufactured products.
Different kinds of microcontaminants can make their way onto the surface or inside of a manufactured product’s components at any time during the production, testing, storage, or use process. Consequently, professional manufacturers are liable for the problems they may cause.
To ensure their products work as intended, most manufacturing companies must regularly test their processes and products for microcontamination. This is how the microcontamination testing process works and when your organization might benefit from it.
What is microcontamination and when is it a problem?
In manufacturing industries, microcontamination is a serious problem because any contaminants that come into contact with the product during the manufacturing process could alter that product’s properties in unexpected ways, affecting its effectiveness or even proving dangerous.
For example, Innovatech regularly conducts cleanliness testing services for hard drive manufacturers because even tiny airborne microcontaminants that get onto the surface of a hard drive during the manufacturing process could alter the direction and strength of the electrical signals sent to and from it. Over time, this altered electricity could damage the components of the hard drive, causing abrasion, corrosion, short circuits, and total hard drive failure.
What are microcontamination cleanliness testing services?
General cleanliness testing services involve using a variety of scientific tests to locate and identify any contaminants present on a product. Microcontamination cleanliness testing services follow the same process but focus on contaminants that are too small to be seen with the naked eye.
The goal of microcontamination cleanliness services is to verify that a manufactured product contains no microcontaminants that may affect its performance. These services are also frequently performed on products that have already malfunctioned to determine why they malfunctioned and whether microcontaminants played a role.
Professional microcontamination analysts like the experts at Innovatech can also use microcleanliness testing to assist with manufacturing process remediation. By identifying the microcontaminant affecting product performance in detail, analysts can reverse-engineer how and when the microcontaminant entered the product. They can then recommend ways manufacturers could change their process to prevent microcontamination.
How do cleanliness testing services work?
Innovatech uses each of the following techniques as part of our microcontamination cleanliness testing services:
Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA): ESCA uses an x-ray beam to excite the molecules on the surface of the sample being analyzed until they emit photoelectrons. By analyzing the energy these photoelectrons give off, analysts can learn elemental and chemical bond information about the sample’s surface. This can help us find elements and chemical interactions that shouldn’t be present on a sample surface and begin to reverse-engineer how they could have ended up there.
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR): FTIR shines infrared light onto the surface of the sample it is analyzing. The bonds between different elements within the sample all absorb different wavelengths of infrared light radiation at their own unique rates. By shining every spectrum over the sample in quick succession, FTIR can help analysts see which bonds exist and identify all substances within the sample—including any contaminants. They can also extract microcontaminants such as silicon from the surface of components and analyze them to determine their concentrations.
Ion chromatography (IC): IC analysis uses a High Performance Liquid Chromatography system to separate anions and cations within a sample by moving it through a system in solution form. This produces a chromatograph, from which contaminants can be identified and quantified compared to reference material. This technique works well for identifying surface microcontaminants such as fluorides, chlorides, and sulfates.
Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS): GC/MS vaporizes a sample then adds an inert gas to it and pushes it through a “stationary phase.” Smaller and more volatile compounds travel through the stationary phase at different speeds and separate within the vapor. By measuring how quickly each component passes through the stationary phase, our analysts can understand what it is.
Manufacturing processes that use microcontamination cleanliness testing
There are a huge variety of industries that rely on microcontamination cleanliness testing for quality and process assurance. If there are any circumstances in which a product’s performance can be affected by microcontaminations, then that product must be tested for microcontaminants before it can be considered safe.
A few examples of the kind of industries Innovatech provides microcontamination cleanliness testing for include:
- Medical devices: Microcontaminants can find their way onto sensitive medical devices during many stages of their production and can cause product malfunctions that can be life-threatening. Innovatech frequently conducts analytical tests like outgassing testing and ion chromatography on medical devices.
- Adhesives: Innovatech provides cleanliness testing services for adhesives manufacturers, utilizing techniques such as FTIR, IC, and DHS-GC/MS.
- Plastics: Innovatech has used ESCA to identify microcontaminants left behind on a polyethylene part produced by a plastics manufacturer. We were able to identify the contaminants and how they contacted the product.
- Epoxies: Innovatech has used headspace GC/MS analysis to analyze why an epoxy product failed. Our tests revealed that the failed product contained dramatically different concentrations of Benzene compared to versions that performed correctly.
How can I get cleanliness testing services?
If you’d like to test your products for microcontamination, Innovatech is ready to help. Get in touch with us right away and our experts will figure out which tests will work best for your needs.
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