Carbon dioxide cleaning

Carbon dioxide cleaning (CO₂ cleaning) comprises a family of methods for parts cleaning and sterilization, using carbon dioxide in its various phases. It is often preferred for use on delicate surfaces. CO₂ cleaning has found application in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, medical, and other industries. Carbon dioxide snow cleaning has been used to remove particles and organic residues from metals, polymers, ceramics, glasses, hard drives, optics, and other surfaces.

CO₂ cleaning has found application in many industries and technical areas, including aerospace, automotive, electronics, medical, manufacturing, basic and applied research, and optics. The different carbon dioxide cleaning methods can remove gross contamination, paint, overlayers, grease, fingerprints, particles down to nanometers in size, hydrocarbon and organic residues, and radioactive residues. Materials cleaned include metals, polymers, ceramics, glasses, wafers, hard drives, and optics. The key limitation is that the contamination must be on the surface, not buried within the material. Porous materials are not good candidates for pellets or snow, but can be cleaned using liquid or supercritical CO₂.

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