Can DuPont™ Vertrel® solvents be used to deposit coatings and lubricants?
The same characteristics that make Vertrel® solvents an excellent cleaner—heavy, nonflammable and highly soluble with many types of contamination—also permit Vertrel® solvents to carry coatings and lubricants and deposit those coatings precisely where they are required. The coating or lubricant must either be soluble in Vertrel® solvents or have a specific gravity similar to Vertrel® solvents. The most common coatings are silicones lubricants and PTFE powdered coatings. Vertrel® solvents carry the coating and deposit it on the surface being lubricated during a dipping process. The primary benefit of using Vertrel® solvents in this application is the speed or throughput of this solvent-based process. Most users also feel the process delivers a superior coating, which improves product quality. The surfaces do not have to be flat for this coating process to work; irregular shapes and blind vias can be coated as easily as a disk drive platter.
