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Reply to "Lionel fyi on track cleaning solutions: alcohol's a definite NO-NO!"

I'm not a chemist..........

Reading through this discussion, it appears that you are in crowd of equals,

 

 

 

Rubbing alcohol - generally isopropyl alcohol anywhere from 60-90% with the remainder being water.  Avoid the scented or other additive added labeled bottles such as wintergreen - that's would be a trace fo salicylaldehyde whic will leave a residue yet leave your track nice and minty.  You will find some rubbing alcohol that is ethyl alcohol...

 

Denatured alcohol - used to be 99% ethyl alcohol with a trace of benzene added to dissuade its consumption, but last I checked it dropped to anywhere from 60-75% ethyl alcohol with all sorts of petroleum products - get a copy of the MSD of the web - Google is your friend and it'll be available as a pdf file.  Some of those products are high boiling compounds and are not going away anny time soon.

 

Citrus cleaners - all kinds of stuff in them depending on brand and and which version -- again, get a copy of the MSD of the web and see what's in them.  Almost every one has higher boiling (low evaporation) petroleum products in them and a percent of the natural product terpenoids that give citrus that citrus smell.  Citric acid is slightly more acidic than acetic acid (vinegar component), and while one might wnat to assume that it's acidic properties are a problem (probably not actually since there's probably more your glass a juice than in your cleaner), it's far more probable to be be a problem as a chelating agent that will degrade metals.

 

Goo Gone and the like......

 

COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
CHEMICAL          CAS NUMBER          WEIGHT %
Hydrotreated light distillates        64742-47-8          90% to 95%
d-Limonene          5989-27-5          1% to 5%
Tripropyleneglycol methyl ether     25498-49-1         1% to 5%

 

Hmmmm...... Basically, lower boiling point hydrocarbon solvent in better than 90%, a little terpenoid limonene for scent, and a little polyglycol ether to help dissolve what the hydrocarbon doesn't and to keep "stuff" in solution......  Neither of the latter 2 are going to evaporate away, so your track will smell nice.

 

Back to the lab.........

 

 

 

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