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User Success Story: Resolving metal contamination generation issues in electronic material production with Smoothflow Pumps.

Reviewing the pump that completely eliminated contamination issues and further streamlined product changes.

Chemical Manufacturer Company F

Production Department

Chemical Manufacturer Company F had for many years mainly focused on pigment production. However, upon seeing signs that the domestic ink printing market was starting to shrink, the company decided to enter the electronic materials field where manufacturing technology can be developed horizontally.

Problem: Unable to meet required accuracy due to metal contamination

For many years, company F had been manufacturing ink pigments using a gear pump and a dispersing machine (bead mill). However, due to the progress of computerization of printed materials and the shrinking printing ink market, they decided to enter a new field. They were able to make use of technology that had cultivated so far and began manufacturing electronic materials as a market where they could expect further growth.

However, when a prototype was submitted to an electronic parts manufacturer, it failed to meet the precision requirements of the manufacturer and it was rejected. At that time, it was pointed out that there was metal contamination. Contamination of trace metals may not have been a worry for them when handling pigments, but is fatal for electronic materials that require higher purity and precision. Mr. I of the production department set up a research team, but the cause of the metal contamination could not be identified.

Problem: Can’t identify the cause of the contamination! In addition, there are liquid leaks.

On the other hand, they did discover that liquid was leaking from the shaft seal part of the pump at this time. It was suggested that they replace the pump with a diaphragm pump that does not cause liquid leakage, but a senior engineer opposed at first. Since they remembered that they experienced problems such as particles getting trapped in the additional air chamber that was necessary with the diaphragm pump, poor cleaning performance, and contamination occurring when they first implemented the dispersing machine (beads mill), they were hesitant to go to this solution and wanted to continue using a gear pump that doesn’t retain liquid and is easy to replace the transfer liquid.

Opinions were divided within the company, and they had no suitable measure to take to deal with the leaks. “We could not find the cause of the contamination or a solution to the leak, so we were incredibly worried about our ability to enter into the new electronic materials market,” Mr. I recalled.

Problem Points:

・Metal contamination was fatal in electronic materials.

・They could not guarantee the quality because they couldn’t identify the cause of the metal contamination.

Solution: Identify the cause of the contamination by consulting with reliable pump manufacturers.

“The problem could not be solved in-house, and when we asked the bead mill manufacturer to inspect the disperser, it turned out that there was no problem with the device itself. The engineer who was in charge of the inspection pointed out that “the cause may be the pump,” and he introduced us to Tacmina, which manufactures the pump recommended by the bead mill manufacturer,” Mr. I explained.

He continued, “I was able to rent a pump to test it before purchasing, and during the test we found that no contamination occurred. Thanks to these results, we were able to determine that the presence of contamination was most likely being caused by the gear pump, and the proposal to switch to a Smoothflow Pump from Tacmina was accepted quickly.”

Solution: “Replacing the pump with a Smoothflow Pump eliminated contamination and even made replacing the liquids easier.”

“Since Smoothflow Pumps do not have rotating or sliding parts, no metal contamination is created. Of course, since the diaphragm pump does not have shaft sealing parts like the previous pump, there are no concerns with liquid leakage. In addition, no additional air chamber was necessary because the Smoothflow Pump does not have pulsation, so we were able to consistently sully electronic components to manufacturers without fear of the same problems recurring in the future.”

“As soon as we implemented the new Smoothflow Pump into our system, we submitted a new prototype to an electronic parts manufacturer, and this time we passed the accuracy requirements. Not only that, but the quality of our new prototype was evaluated so highly that the parts manufacturer proposed to purchase from us continuously, long term. At long last we were finally able to take the first step into the electronic materials market.”

“The Smoothflow Pump is also quite easy to disassemble and clean, so it actually became easier to change out the liquid or materials. Some of the other senior engineers and I still laugh when we think about how good we thought we had it with the previous gear pump, but we are all much happier that we didn’t stick with it and switched to Smoothflow,” Mr. I concluded with a smile.

Having cleared the precision requirements of the parts manufacturer, they were able to make their first foothold into the market. The company continues to expand their business by increasing the number of products they offer and the number of customers dealing with electronic materials.

Solution Points:

・Successfully identify the cause of the contamination was due to the gear pump.

・The quality requirements were achieved by replacing the gear pump with a Tacmina Smoothflow Pump.

・The ease of replacing the liquid or changing the product increased.

User Success Story: Resolving metal contamination generation issues in electronic material production with Smoothflow Pumps.

Details

  • Osaka, Japan
  • TACMINA CORPORATION