Hi Ulrich, yes its nasty. As far as I am aware the "liquid" electrolyte is an alakali, sodium or potasium hydroxide. This retains the insulator (aluminium oxide) on the plates by electrolytic action. When spewed on to the PCB it is conducting and starts and electrolytic reaction that will eat away the tracks. This will happen faster with power applied but will occur if the circuit is unpowered. I have removed some of this, and the efflent from leaky NiCd bats (Potassium hydroxide) with a swab soaked in vinager, and then flushed the area clean and dried it in alcohol. It may depend on how old and caked the deposit is but the sodium acetate (??) should be soluble in water, where hydroxides and carbonates are not. The danger is getting liquid trapped under components, alcohol is not too much of a problem but vinegar left could be as corrorosive eventually as the electrolyte guge if not fully removed. I have never needed to try this on a tracked PCB but I dont see why it shouldn't do the job. Others will not doubt comment :-))
Alan G3NYK ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ulrich Bangert" <[email protected]> To: "Time nuts" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 2:02 PM Subject: [time-nuts] Completely OT: Removing electrolytics of leakingcapacitors from a pcb > Gentlemen, > > I know this is completely out of topic but I know there are some dedicated > material experts among you. So please allow me to put the following question > forward: > > Is there any good suggestion available on how to remove electrolytic coating > resulting from leaking electrolytic capacitors from a pcb? It is not a > question of good looking, the coating seems to have a real "electrical > conducting" property which is absolutely bad on higher-impedance circuitry > as to be found on a Tektronix TDS45A scope mainboard, where the problem is > encountered. The findings so far are that the classical method with > isopropanol and a brush won't work. And the internet won't give precise > answers for that problem. > > Any suggestion is highly appreciated! > > Best regards > > Ulrich Bangert > www.ulrich-bangert.de > Ortholzer Weg 1 > 27243 Gross Ippener > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
