Introduction to the correct use of defoamers

With the rapid development of the national economy, a large number of additives are used in various industries, but this will produce a large number of harmful foam. In order to improve production efficiency, defoamers have become indispensable chemical additives. Organic silicone defoamers, polyether defoamers, and mineral oil defoamers are the main species of defoamers in today's era. How to further improve the performance of defoamers and reduce the dosage of defoamer products has become an important task for researchers.

However, excessive defoamer can cause the defoamer to be sucked in by the pump and sprayed through the nozzle, resulting in the defoamer re depositing onto the panel. There are obvious problems with too few or ineffective defoamers.

Please follow the following guidelines to use defoamers correctly: 

1. Avoid manual addition

It is very important not to add a large amount of defoamer to avoid potential deposition on the panel. I always recommend avoiding manual addition. Firstly, use a feed pump to intermittently add a small amount of defoamer on a continuous basis. Usually, the feed pump can be started/stopped through the timer on the control panel. Low flow metering pumps or peristaltic pumps can effectively achieve this function as they can be set to increase speed by less than one liter per hour. The least desirable scenario is for the operator to add the defoamer directly from the container.

2. Avoid using alcohol based defoamers

Alcohol based defoamers are usually cheaper than concentrated defoamers, but their durability is very short. Alcohol based defoamers seem to have a good effect because they are fast. This is achieved by reducing the surface tension of the plating solution. However, as the alcohol is absorbed by the solution, only more addition will be needed. The recommended addition amount is 1%, simply switch to a concentrated non-alcoholic defoamer.

3. Add in moderation

When determining whether you use too much or too little, we usually use empirical rules. If the feeding frequency is set correctly, there will always be a small amount of foam on the surface. Please remember that if the corrosion inhibitor brand is changed or the filling amount is increased, the number of foam will change accordingly and needs to be adjusted.