Electronics > Repair

Best contact cleaner for corrosion on pcb boards?

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artvandalai:
Whats the best contact cleaner for heavy corrosion, oxidation, rust on electrical components, pcb boards, and plastic? Deoxit d100 spray vs crc 2-26 or another product?

marhuum:
Acid
Depends on the rust badness level the worse it is the stronger the acid should be used

consult chemistry sites, just brief;

HCl              strong

Citric Acid   mild

Acetic Acid   weak


On very strong eg. HCl ~33% it absolutely must be diluted with water by way of some water in a holder added/dripped little by little with some HCl

So let's we have 29%-30% HCl for ugly rust, the way is to put it in a small bottle.
As one hand hold cotton bud dripped, damped from that, the other hold a clothe damped with IPA mixed with some water, so as starting to clean up do it rather precisely only the rusted part wiping/rubbing it with the acid in a hand, then wait seconds, if it wets the non-rusted part, immediately wipe it with the other (prepared IPA) then at last thoroughly wipe, clean all the Acid-reacted part altogether with the IPA

On better rusted part just do first part, no need to hury wiping it with IPA then at last thoroughly wipe, clean all the Acid-reacted part altogether with the IPA

themadhippy:
for something a bit gentler bicarb cream.

Ian.M:

--- Quote from: marhuum on November 03, 2024, 02:12:06 pm ---Acid
Depends on the rust badness level the worse it is the stronger the acid should be used

consult chemistry sites, just brief;

HCl              strong

Citric Acid   mild

Acetic Acid   weak


On very strong eg. HCl ~33% it absolutely must be diluted with water by way of some water in a holder added/dripped little by little with some HCl

So let's we have 29%-30% HCl for ugly rust, the way is to put it in a small bottle.
As one hand hold cotton bud dripped, damped from that, the other hold a clothe damped with IPA mixed with some water, so as starting to clean up do it rather precisely only the rusted part wiping/rubbing it with the acid in a hand, then wait seconds, if it wets the non-rusted part, immediately wipe it with the other (prepared IPA) then at last thoroughly wipe, clean all the Acid-reacted part altogether with the IPA

On better rusted part just do first part, no need to hury wiping it with IPA then at last thoroughly wipe, clean all the Acid-reacted part altogether with the IPA

--- End quote ---
Anyone who thinks adding Chloride corrosion to your PCB's problems is a *GOOD* idea shouldn't be trusted with anything more delicate than a pick-axe!  It will eat the copper tracks and slowly keep on going even after you *think* you have neutralised it.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_disease

Phosphoric acid is suitable for rust treatment - it converts rust into insoluble iron phosphate and leaves a protective iron phosphate layer on the surface of the iron or steel.  Topically applied, its OK for screening cans and mechanical parts.  However if the rust is on tin plated iron component leads, they are probably already unsalvageable as the rust tends to get under the tin plate leaving whatever iron remains in an extremely fragile state and probably compromising the component's end caps and the solder joint to the pad.

Haenk:
It all depends; best is to show a picture of your issue, so the forum could decide - different materials require different procedures. A rusted amboss will require some mechanical work with your angle grinder, while a scratching potentiometer will be pretty unhappy with that method.

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