How to dissolve Torr-Seal

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Kasala Prabakerreddy

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Dec 29, 2020, 7:08:08 AM12/29/20
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Hello Everyone,
I have a question regarding the removal/dissolving of the Agilent variant Torr seal, which we applied earlier to one of the vacuum components. Now we want to remove it without any damage to the component.
What delicate ways are there of removing the torr seal? 

I really appreciate any help you can provide.

Regards
Reddy
Post Doctoral Fellow
KAIST-South Korea

Shashank Shuler-Misra

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Dec 29, 2020, 9:46:47 AM12/29/20
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To my knowledge, there is no solvent that will remove torr seal. If you decide to grind it off, be careful, as the dust is very bad for you.

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Petra Reinke

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Dec 29, 2020, 1:12:38 PM12/29/20
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If I remember correctly heating it with a heatgun to about 150-200C makes it somewhat brittle and easier to chip off. 



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Petra Reinke

Professor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
University of Virginia

Navrotski, Gary

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Dec 30, 2020, 6:00:46 PM12/30/20
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Hello Reddy,

 

Professor Reinke is basically correct.  Heating on a hot plate or with a heat gun will soften the Torr Seal® to a consistency similar to tar.  I have been able to twist and disassemble components while warm.

 

Alternately, while at room temperature, Torr Seal® is brittle and chips away upon impact.  I usually use a scalpel or sharp blade and a small hammer to flake the epoxy by light impact at the epoxy-to-metal bonding interface.

 

Good luck,

Gary

 

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Gary Navrotski, P.E., Ph.D.                Navr...@anl.gov

X-ray Science Division - Beamline Instrumentation Group

Advanced Photon Source                  Office:  401-B3200

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Steve Buckingham

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Dec 31, 2020, 6:33:48 AM12/31/20
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Hi Reddy,
Can I ask what kind of component you need to remove the torr seal from, and why? Did a leak re-open on the component despite the torr seal
application?
Can you simply replace the component with a new part? 
I just wanted to understand in more detail what you are hoping to achieve?
I’m not sure of the exact specifications for torr seal but Varian or the spec sheet should be able to help you with that. I know that it can be used on UHV systems that are often baked to 150-200C or higher in some cases so even if it softens a little at elevated temperatures it might not help you if you want to remove a large quantity of material from a feed through or other component. Similarly, chipping away at the material at room temperature might not be desirable if the torr seal  was applied to a ceramic to metal feedthru or glass to metal seal that might damage the component even further.
Similarly, know king the type of component involved might mean you can apply a lot more heat to help remove the compound (some UHV components can be heated to much higher temps that might facilitate “burning off” the torr seal ... even in an O2 environment) 
Although as others here have stated you need to be very careful of the decomposition products produced in such a process as they are likely
very harmful, and so should be vented under a fume hood.
Good Luck,
Steve


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On Dec 30, 2020, at 6:00 PM, 'Navrotski, Gary' via Surface Science <surface...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



Hello Reddy,

 

Professor Reinke is basically correct.  Heating on a hot plate or with a heat gun will soften the Torr Seal® to a consistency similar to tar.  I have been able to twist and disassemble components while warm.

 

Alternately, while at room temperature, Torr Seal® is brittle and chips away upon impact.  I usually use a scalpel or sharp blade and a small hammer to flake the epoxy by light impact at the epoxy-to-metal bonding interface.

 

Good luck,

Gary

 

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Tetsuo Hanaguri

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Dec 31, 2020, 8:18:41 AM12/31/20
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Dear all,

Although I have never tried, I found an article (in Japanese, though...) that says that TossSeal can be removed by soaking in dichloromethane for more than several hours. 

Best,

Tetsuo HANAGURI,
RIKEN CEMS, Japan

2020/12/31 20:33、Steve Buckingham <stevebu...@comcast.net>のメール:

Hi Reddy,

Petra Reinke

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Dec 31, 2020, 10:24:26 AM12/31/20
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Steve, 
excellent points - the reason TorrSeal might continue to fulfill its function could be that a little bit of it gets "sucked into the initial leak channel and it continues to "block" transport of gas. I have to admit that we have not used Torr Seal in large quantities but more surgically to the exact spot after extensive leak testing and localizing the spot down to the cm range. We have had some parts where it just stayed on for years... so the heating and chipping of (with all chemical safety precautions) is likely only successful for the small area application. If it is a large section where you absolutely need to get it off.... maybe a Dremel tool with a mechanically abrasive endpiece could help, but that is really brutal and likely to be met with damage (and wear a mask and go to fumehood or glovebox mechanics use also for high dust producing processes). 

best, Petra (and a Happy New Year to all of you)

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Richard Stern

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Dec 31, 2020, 2:29:42 PM12/31/20
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We routinely have to remove epoxy from various embedded materials using Allied High Tech's Epoxy Dissolver  https://consumables.alliedhightech.com/Epoxy-Dissolver-p/epxydiss.htm

 

It doesn't so much as dissolve the epoxy, but makes it soft and crumbly, and it easily falls off the part.  It's also non toxic and water soluble, so won't hurt the part being extracted.  Gentle heating of the liquid solution on the part for a few hours speeds up the process, but you have to be patient and iterate if the epoxy is thick.  Torr-Seal is a bisphenol-A resin, as are most 2 part epoxies, with the addition of powdered quartz in the hardener presumably to lower its vapor pressure, so it should work similarly.  But maybe it won't be possible in your case due to the size of the part or location of the epoxy on it.

 

Best regards,

 

 

Richard Stern, Ph.D.

Managing Director, CCIM (SIMS facility)

Department of Earth & Atm Sciences

1-26 ESB

University of Alberta

116 St. & 85 Ave.

Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3

Canada

 

780-248-1063 (lab)

Brandon McClimon

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Jan 2, 2021, 3:24:13 PM1/2/21
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Hi Richard,

My ears perked up when I saw your suggestion that the powdered quartz in Torr-Seal might aid with reducing the vapor pressure.  I know you were speculating, given the "presumably", but I was curious if you might know of any resources explaining the mechanism by which such an addition would lower the vapor pressure.  I am working on an interesting polymer composite where the hard silica component ends up at the free surface. If this conformation lowers the vapor pressure, this provides a useful and interesting "potential application", even if vacuum-compatible materials are fairly niche.  I have done some lit searching and haven't found anything yet, so I figured I'd just ask.

All the best,
Brandon McClimon

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Richard Stern

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Jan 3, 2021, 12:35:09 AM1/3/21
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Hi Brandon,

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any data of my own on the use of quartz and the effect on vapor pressure.  The use of fillers in resin is quite common to change their bulk properties, particulary the use of carbon and copper to make them conductive, and I have found these to have lower vapor pressure.  I suppose this is a dilution effect, i.e, reducing the fraction of epoxy in the surface exposed to vacuum.  I have found that some of these additives are better than others as staying well-mixed, while some tend to gravity-settle during polymerization.  Quartz should behave fairly well in this regard in the high viscosity resins.  On reflection, an additional reason they use quartz may be to stiffen up the mix, making it easier to paste and spot dab onto surfaces rather than running everywhere.  Your application sounds intriguing!

Best regards,

Richard

Brandon McClimon

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Jan 3, 2021, 2:28:50 PM1/3/21
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Thanks Richard. I suppose the epoxy companies probably have data on this effect, but maybe don't have much incentive to publish it. You're probably right that diluting the amount of epoxy at the free surface reduces the vapor pressure, I'll look around to see if this effect is discussed in some context other than epoxies.  I did see that there is a little bit of info out there about how silica/quartz additions help increase the viscosity, as you suggest.

All the best,
Brandon


Craig

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Jan 3, 2021, 7:10:45 PM1/3/21
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Might try NASA Godard or NASA White Sands for outgassing data of various cured materials. 
E.g. 
https://outgassing.nasa.gov/

Craig Bishop

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On Jan 3, 2021, at 2:28 PM, Brandon McClimon <brandon....@gmail.com> wrote:



Brandon McClimon

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Jan 3, 2021, 10:26:57 PM1/3/21
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Thank you Craig.  This is a cool resource.  The website seemed to be broken in my browser, but I was able to find and word search the database here: http://vacseal.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Outgassing-Data-for-Selecting-Spacecraft-Materials-REV.pdf

Best,
Brandon

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Byron Gates

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Dec 2, 2022, 7:06:18 PM12/2/22
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Dear all,

We are searching for a replacement Analyzer Controller Unit (ACU) for our Kratos Analytical Axis ULTRA DLD XPS.  Our ACU suffered a failure and we have been informed that this will take months (or longer) for Kratos Analytical to repair it due to a backlog and priorities to systems that are under warranty / service contracts. 

We recognize that our system is no longer a supported system given its age and we are looking to salvage the ACU and other controller units from any decommissioned Axis ULTRA DLD XPS systems. We are also open to other suggestions.  Please let me know if you can assist. 

Best regards,
Byron Gates

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