Spectro Coating

How Flock Provides an Innovative Solution to a Timely Problem

In the age of Covid, cleaning difficult surfaces has never been more important. 

Are you having difficulty cleaning or buffing an uneven surface? Most surfaces have micro scratches or fine grooves where dirt hides. Getting into these areas to clean and disinfect is difficult with sponges, mop, or buffing pads. The surface of these materials never gets into the fine areas. They just hit the surfaces. Over time more and more dirt fills these grooves.

One way to do this is to use a cleaning tool with a flocked surface. Flock is short-cut fibers that are adhered perpendicular to a surface. The fibers act like a brush. These fibers can be a micro-denier or much larger depending on the surface to clean.  The fiber can get into difficult-to-reach areas.

One such application is cleaning the microcells on a print cylinder. The print cylinder is etched with microcells to pick up the inks. The inks are then transferred over to the surface to be printed. Cleaning the cells can be difficult without removing the whole roll and soaking it.

One way to clean the rolls efficiently is by wrapping the rolls with a flocked blanket. The cleaning solution is added to the blanket and run across the rolls. The flock fibers and the solution remove the ink from the micro cells without damaging the etching. This saves time as the rolls are cleaned in place and do not have to be removed.

Another application is a flocked cleaning card. The flock card is used with a cleaning solution to clean sensitive card readers for credit cards, casino rewards cards, and other magnetic strip readers. The flock has a high dirt absorption and brushing action. The fibers connect to the various surfaces and grooves. Because the fibers are of a fine denier, they don’t scratch or harm sensitive electronics.

The fibers can also be a high denier and act as bristles for tougher cleaning needs. Imagine a floor cleaning machine using a flock pad with a high denier to scrub away grime without scratching or damaging the floor.

Other advantages include a high static surface, fibers that can be customized for the application, conformity to the surface that needs to be cleaned, efficient use of the clean or abrasive materials, and patterning effects to hold and move abrasives. When cleaning, buffing, or polishing flock pads have shown to have a higher gloss level when compared to other materials like lambs’ wool or foam pads. Call us at (978)-534-1800 or email us at flock@spectrocoating.com to discuss your project on providing an engineered solution to your clean application.