Outgassing and Its Effect on Your Product and Your Cleanroom.

Out-gassing, sometimes called off- gassing, is the release of a gas that was dissolved, trapped, frozen or absorbed in some material. Outgassing can include sublimation and evaporation which are phase transitions of a substance into a gas, as well as desorption, seepage from cracks or internal volumes and gaseous products of slow chemical reactions.

Moisture, chemicals, manufacturing aids, release agents and slip agents, are the most common sources, encountered in polyethylene extrusion but even metals can release gases from cracks or impurities. The rate of out-gassing and surface leeching increases at higher temperatures because the vapor pressure and rate of chemical reaction increases. For most solid materials, the method of manufacture and preparation can reduce the level of outgassing significantly. Cleaning surfaces or resins before extrusion can eliminate leeching and out-gassing in the final extruded film.

There is some concern that plasticizers and solvents released from many extruded products, especially plastics, may be the major cause of product contamination, particularly in products produced for the medical and pharmaceutical industries.. Manufactured and fabricated products that are sensitive to potential out-gassing should use packaging films such as Degage Corp. Ultra Low Out-gassing or “KleenTuff”for their critical packaging requirements.

Only the purest materials should be allowed into class 100 or class 50 environments. Unclean or recycled LDPE could leach contaminates or out-gas into your clean environment, or onto your once clean product. This potential for leaching and outgassing could easily shut down a clean room and cost days of downtime to decontaminate your environment.

Virgin barefoot Polyethylene is a pure, non-contaminated material to work with; since it is Pure without any silicone, slip agents or manufacturing aids. It is also stronger, more durable and produces a more consistent product. That is why Degage Corp provides, to our customers, the cleanest virgin LDPE available on today’s market. Our “KleenTuff” Virgin LDPE is a blend of low density resins specifically designed for use in applications where cleanliness levels meeting or exceeding IEST-CC-STD 1246 level 100 are necessary. DegageCorp’s “KleenTuff”bags, tubing and sheeting never contains any additives, such as slip agents, anti-blocking agents or antioxidants. “KleenTuff” meets both ( IEST 14644 CLASS 5 and JPG-5322-1 LEVEL 100 AND LEVEL 50) specifications, while exhibiting excellent characteristics of low ionic contamination, low out-gassing and low non-volatile residue transmission. Unlike standard polyethylene bags “KleenTuff” bags and tubing” eliminate most blocking and are extremely easy to open. See our independent outside investigative lab results, by Balaz Labs, of “KleenTuff” outgassing by clicking on the product of your interest, in our list of manufactured products, on our web site home page.