Our competence is based on decades of experience in developing galvanic processes for pre-treatment and refinement of metallic semi-finished products.

Our specialist staff in the laboratory is working permanently on the improvement of existing processes as well as the development of new processes for optimal solutions, which are realized in our engineering department. Finally in our workshops STAKU builds complete production devices.

In order to solve this difficult task, STAKU has with e-clean combined two cleaning factors so that the rod surface is absolutely clean within a treatment duration of between one and three seconds.  

The cleaning mechanism is hereby as follows:

1. Cathodic blasting off of graphite residues
2. Electrolytic pickling in sulphuric acid with max. current densities of 250A/dm²
3. High pressure spray pickling with sulfuric acid 10 %
4. Cathodic blasting off of the loosened oxide layer.

During the cleaning process, the backing materials copper, zinc, tin and graphite partially enter the acid as a lubricant, which results in soiling. This is removed from the bath using an electrolytic separator.

During the production of bar material of copper and copper alloys from 2,500 to 13,500 mm, the surface of the bar is heavily contaminated with oils, oil emulsions and additives during the various production steps such as cold drawing and straightening which have to be removed again before heat treatment or for a finished product.

The traditional “vapour degreasing” at approx. 85°C in the hot-dip process requires very long dip tanks with very large bath volumes in order to be able to dip the bar as a coil. This means keeping large volumes of chemicals in stock and the use of large amounts of heat energy due to the large and frequently open bath surfaces. The degreasing agent invariably contains emulsifiers to prevent regreasing of the product. This makes continuous processing of the degreasing bath impossible.

With e-clean, STAKU has developed a process and plant concept which completely solves the above-mentioned problems. The highly effective electrolytic cleaning process using the “inner conductor process” cleans the bar surface to a value of below 10 mg/m² in a maximum treatment time of two seconds due to the extremely intensive formation of hydrogen and oxygen gases. With a cleaning section of 4 m and a downline cascade flushing section with air drying, a material throughput of approx. 300 bars per hour is achieved with an overall plant length of approx. 7,000 mm. With a current density of approx. 35 A/dm², a maximum bath temperature of only 60°C is required.

The degreasing bath of 2,500 litres is connected to a processing circuit consisting of an oil separator and an automatic belt filter. Here the electrolyte is continuously cleaned of oils and filterable dirt so that its service life is unlimited.