Cleaners for military machine parts—is there a green alternative?

Solvents are widely used in the DOD for maintenance cleaning and degreasing of parts, such as weapon systems, bomb ejector racks, aircraft engines, etc. Currently used solvents such as P-D-680 Type II, MEK, stoddart solvent and highly refined aliphatic hydrocarbon compounds are hazardous, flammable, and toxic chemicals. A number of alternative cleaners were evaluated using subscale tests. The green cleaners were selected based on weapon system cleaning requirements. The cleaners were evaluated for cleaning effectiveness factor (CEF), material compatibility and gunfire residue removal. A large number of alternative cleaners showed similar or superior cleaning performance compared to current gun cleaners P-D-680 Type II and Breakfree. The alternative cleaners have the potential to provide a much better environmentally friendly cleaning performance than current cleaners do. Further pilot-scale testing using weapons is needed before field applications.