Teknek FAQ
What is contact cleaning?
Why Teknek?
Why it works, how it works-when it won’t work
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What is Contact Cleaning ?
Unlike vacuum systems that clean without touching the surface, Contact Cleaners use a system of special rollers in contact with a surface to pick up particles and transfer them to an adhesive roll. Contact cleaners break down to two main categories, Sheet Cleaners and Web Cleaners . Cleaning can be either single or double sided.
In a contact cleaning system the pick up roller penetrates the boundary layers that make vacuum systems less efficient at removing small particles. For this reason contact cleaning is a much more efficient way of removing small particles from sheets or webs. Contact Cleaning can be used before many critical processes such as Printing, Laminating, Coating, Packaging and Stacking.
Why Teknek?
Teknek were the inventers of contact cleaning using a combination of rubber pick up rollers and combined adhesive roll system (1984). Since then, contact cleaning has become the system of choice for many industries where surface contamination has become an issue. Not surprisingly, Teknek has been at the fore front of contact cleaning and has over 15,000 installations worldwide. It has been Teknek’s policy to re-invest in technology and as a result Teknek still outperforms other competitors whether you consider cleaning efficiency or overall value proposition.
Teknek offer the widest range of sheet cleaning and web cleaning units and our equipment is fully guaranteed and supported by a worldwide technical support/spares service.
Teknek is the only company in contact cleaning that manufacture their own rubber rollers and also supply and convert adhesive rolls for use by customers. Therefore our core components are perfectly matched leading to better cleaning ( higher yields ) and longer life. Teknek’s policy of continuous development has lead to the invention of sheeted adhesive rolls and more recently the launch of our world beating range of NanoCleen products which combine silicone free materials with static reduction in the same system.
If you are looking for continuity of service and supply coupled with top cleaning performance you need look no further than Teknek –the professionals choice.
How it works, Why it works, & when it won’t work
How it works
Contact cleaners use high energy pick up rollers which come in contact with the particles being cleaned. The particles form a temporary bond with the rubber pick up roller and then get transferred to an adhesive roll where they are permanently captured. The rubber rollers have more surface energy than the substrate being cleaned. The adhesive roll has higher surface energy than the rubber rollers so the pick up (rubber roller) cleans the substrate and the adhesive roller cleans the rubber roll. After the adhesive is fully loaded it must be replaced.(See diagram of roller config.)
It is normal to incorporate static elimination on a surface after it has been cleaned.
Why it works
Particles on a surface are held by several forces which make it difficult to remove them. Although the forces are small, in relation to the particles they are comparatively large. The main forces involved are static charge and Van der Vaals forces. Static charge is often induced in surfaces when they touch each other, especially if they are far apart on the tribo-electric scale (learn more). Van der Waals forces are typically seen when two very flat surfaces come in to contact with each other (e.g. two sheets of glass)-the sheets appear to be stuck together.The surface energy of a pick up roller has to be sufficient to overcome the static attractive forces and any Van der Waals forces. (Teknek has developed the worlds first test system for measuring the effectiveness of a pick up roller). By breaking through the boundary layer and coming into direct contact with the particles a pick rollers can more easily overcome the forces keeping the particles tied to a surface. This is why contact cleaning systems from Teknek can work so efficiently.
When contact cleaning won’t work
Contact cleaning works best with Dry, Unattached particles (lint, dust, hairs, flakes etc). It will not remove oily finger prints or grease or particles which are physically adhered to a surface.
