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US 5,536,327 AGranted
Removal of hydrocarbon or fluorocarbon residues using coupling agent additives
AssigneeEntropic Systems, Inc.
InventorRobert Kaiser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Fluorocarbon/hydrocarbon coupling agents are used in conjunction with highly fluorinated or, alternatively, hydrocarbon carrier liquids to remove refractory soils from solid substrates. To remove hydrocarbon soils, such as oils and greases, the coupling agent is combined with a highly fluorinated carrier liquid and the substrate exposed thereto. To remove fluorocarbon soils, a hydrocarbon carrier is used instead.
Claims18
A method of cleaning hydrocarbon soils from a solid substrate, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. washing the substrate in a cleaning mixture comprising a highly fluorinated carrier liquid and a coupling agent having a perfluorinated molecular region and a hydrocarbon molecular region so as to clean the substrate, the coupling agent being nonpolar and selected from a group consisting of (i) materials having a chemical formula CH.sub.3 --(CH.sub.2).sub.m --L--(CF.sub.2).sub.n --CF.sub.3 wherein m.gtoreq.0, n.gtoreq.3, and L is a direct carbon-carbon bond or an organic linking group, and (ii) perfluoroethers having a perfluorinated molecular region of chemical formula CF.sub.3 --[(CR.sup.1 R.sup.2).sub.m O].sub.n --, wherein m.gtoreq.1, n.gtoreq.1, and R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are selected from a group consisting of fluorine and fluoroalkanes;
- and
- b. removing the cleaning mixture from the substrate.
A method of cleaning fluorocarbon soils from a solid substrate, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. washing the substrate in a cleaning mixture comprising a hydrocarbon carrier liquid and a coupling agent having a perfluorinated molecular region and a hydrocarbon molecular region so as to clean the substrate;
- and
- b. removing the cleaning mixture from the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.