Frequently Asked Questions
Coventry™ Products for Critical Environments
1. Are all of your products manufactured in a Cleanroom?
Coventry™ manufactures products in a cleanroom whenever it is necessary to meet the quality requirements of the customer. Since processing and packaging in a cleanroom can significantly increase the cost of a product, Coventry seeks to employ other contamination control strategies in our manufacturing processes. In some cases the use of a cleanroom in unavoidable. Laundered, knit polyester, or microfiber wipers are an example, where sorting, inspecting, flattening and packaging processes must be done in a cleanroom to prevent product contamination. With other products we have developed proprietary manufacturing processes that have proven effective in isolating the product and packaging.
2. What classification cleanroom are Coventry products manufactured in?
The products that are manufactured in are laundered and packaged in a class M1 cleanroom.
3. What is the difference between, cotton, foam, polyester/cellulose, polyester, and microfiber?
Except for the microfiber Cleanroom Chamois™, absorbency (cleaning ability) and cleanliness usually go in opposite directions. That is to say, very clean materials such as synthetic polyester are really not especially absorbent. Even so called ‘high-absorbency polyester’ is not very absorbent. It may be more absorbent than some other polyester, but it will not approach the absorbency of cellulose. The highly absorbent materials are usually based on natural fibers and cellulose which tends to shed particles.
4. Do you have ESD Swabs?
Yes. We have a variety of ESD-safe swabs. Our ESD swabs feature a blue (the universal color for static dissipative), solvent resistant, low contamination, dissipative handles.
5. Which are your cleanest swabs?
Our folded and wrapped polyester are the cleanest swabs in the world. Most swabs are made using some sort of a seal, which
creates edges (a high source of contamination). Our folded and wrapped polyester swabs, do not have any exposed edges thus the lowest level of contamination.
6. If I am using a solvent, which head material should I use?
Polyester and microfiber heads are generally more chemically resistant than foam heads.
7. Which swab is best for cleaning sensitive surfaces and mirrors?
Our microfiber swabs offer a chemically resistant material that is especially soft and absorbent.
8. Which swabs are best for removing flux residue from a PCB?
Our foam swabs with ESD sticks allows for high absorbency and good chemical compatibility when using IPA. If acetone were
being used, our polyester or microfiber swabs (ESD of course) would be recommended.
9. What products should I use to clean flat panel displays?
Our Microfiber sealed edge wipe is the best choice in the industry. It offers the lowest levels of particles and fibers that might cause defects in the flat panels. In addition, the high absorbency of the wipe is extremely desirable when cleaning displays.
10. Can wipers be re-laundered?
Since a used wipe will never get as clean as a new wipe, we cannot recommend the use of re-laundered wipers in critical
environments. However, the microfiber wipe has a high abrasion resistance and launders exceptionally well. As a result some
customers have had success at commercial re-laundering and re-use the microfiber wipe in not such a critical environment.
11. What is the best wipe for cleaning optics?
Our Econowipe™ is a 100% nonwoven wiper, which is excellent for optics. Because it is manufactured using high-speed jets of
water, it has extremely low levels of extractables. However some specialized coated optics might be damaged by the use of this wiper. Coventry’s™ microfiber wipe provides the lowest levels of particles and fibers for wiping glass surfaces and flat panel display
manufacturing.
12. What is the difference between a laser-edge wipe and a hot-cut edge wiper?
Coventry’s highly effective laser-edge wipes have bonded borders that seal rows of loops on the border of the knit, which produces durable and consistent fiber control suitable for class 10-100 cleanrooms. A hot edge leave loops of yarn that can break free during use and result in contamination.
Source: ITW Chemtronics