By Anne, Application Engineer at CHUANGQI

Dry ice cleaning propels rice-sized CO2 pellets at high speed through compressed air. The combination of kinetic impact, thermal shock and sublimation loosens contaminants, and the ice turns directly into gas — no water, no chemicals, no secondary waste to dispose of.

Why It Suits Electronics Manufacturing

Wet washing is ideal for boards in baskets, but many cleaning jobs in an SMT plant involve objects that must not get wet or cannot fit a washer: wave-solder pallets and selective-solder carriers with accumulated flux, reflow oven parts, conveyor chains, dispensing equipment, and even powered equipment that cannot be disconnected for days. Dry ice blasting cleans them in place, often without disassembly, because there is no moisture to damage electronics.

The Three Mechanisms

First, kinetic energy: pellets accelerated to supersonic speed abrade the soil layer. Second, thermal shock: the -78.5 °C pellets cool the contaminant abruptly, cracking its bond with the substrate — especially effective on brittle flux and baked-on residues. Third, sublimation: on impact the pellet vaporizes and expands roughly 800 times in volume, lifting the loosened soil off the surface. The contaminant falls as dry dust that is removed by extraction or wiping.

Typical Applications

Flux removal from solder pallets and carriers (extending their life significantly), cleaning of reflow oven internals and catalytic grids, mold and tooling maintenance in nearby plastic or die-cast operations, and restoration of misprinted or rework boards in low volume. It is also the method of choice for fire-and-soot restoration of production equipment.

Equipment Requirements

A dry ice blaster needs compressed air at 3–10 bar (typically 0.5–4 m³/min depending on nozzle) and a pellet supply. Single-phase 220 V power covers most machines. We manufacture dry ice cleaning machines for electronics and industrial use — ask for a recommendation based on your application and air supply.

Sources and further reading

Related reading

Frequently Asked Questions

Will dry ice blasting damage boards or components?
No. It is non-abrasive and moisture-free: the CO2 pellets sublimate on impact, so pallets, carriers and even powered equipment can be cleaned in place. Spray pressure and nozzle distance still need to be matched to the part.
What air supply does a dry ice cleaning machine need?
Compressed air at 3–10 bar, typically 0.5–4 m³/min depending on the nozzle, plus a pellet supply. Single-phase 220 V power covers most machines.
Where does dry ice cleaning fit in an SMT plant?
Wave-solder pallets and selective-solder carriers, reflow oven internals, dispensing equipment and misprinted boards in low volume — anything that must not get wet or cannot fit a washer.

About the author

Anne is an Application Engineer at CHUANGQI. She works with EMS and OEM manufacturers on cleaning-process questions: analysing flux and residue findings, sizing the right machine configuration (inline or batch, stencil, nozzle or dry ice), and supporting remote commissioning, acceptance testing and process documentation.

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