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If you have a cleanroom, you understand the importance of meeting strict requirements. So does Puritan Medical Products. To ensure the reliable, consistent performance you expect from your purchased end products, we manufacture our PurSwab critical environment (CE) swab series at our ISO 13485:2016 certified and CE-compliant facility. The question is, which swab type is the best fit for your specific needs?
As you read the overview of swab shafts and tips below, you will see that our PurSwab brand swab series offers many options for cleanroom applications. With these details on our tipped applicators, you can confidently choose the cleanroom swabs that best suit your needs.

What Are Cleanroom Swabs?

The controlled environment of a cleanroom must minimize contaminants such as dust and other airborne particles. However, even in the cleanest environments, despite the best protection, materials, systems, and people may produce potentially microscopic particles. Reducing this emission through careful material selection, including cleanroom swabs, is important.
Whether you are producing sensitive electronics, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, or other delicate components, you must ensure that your cleaning solutions meet the minimum allowable particle count per cubic meter. Cleanroom swabs are specifically formulated to reduce lint and other residue potential, among other special features.

Understanding the Types of Cleanroom Swabs

Just as there are many types of cleanroom applications, there are cleanroom swabs specifically formulated to meet unique needs. These simple tools have two critical components to consider.
When it comes to swab shafts, you have several options to choose from, including wood, polypropylene, and paper. This variation allows users to select a material with the appropriate level of stiffness or flexibility for the task at hand.
Swab tip: When it comes to the tip of your cleanroom swabs, there are many more options. These range from cotton and compressed cotton to foam, cotton-over-foam combinations, knitted polyester, and microfiber. The option you choose will depend on your need to absorb cleaning agents or liquid contaminants, allowable abrasiveness, linting potential, and other characteristics. Some cleanroom swab tips are also formulated to provide additional benefits, such as chemical resistance or antistatic and electrostatic discharge (ESD) properties.

Choosing the Right Cleanroom Swab Shaft

Below is a closer look at the benefits and applications of each cleanroom swab shaft material to help you match the right tool to your application.

Polypropylene Shaft Swabs

  • Molded or extruded options available
  • Can be glass-filled for extra stiffness
  • Can be blended with carbon for conductivity
  • Can be blended with naturally static-dissipative polymers
Polypropylene Shaft Swabs

Paper Shaft Swabs

  • With compressed paper stick
  • Rigid
  • Biodegradable
  • Most commonly used with compressed cotton/lint-free tips
  • Used in the production of disk drives
  • Paper creates a rigid, clean, and end-to-end “green” construction
Paper Shaft Swabs

Wood Shaft Swabs

  • Wooden stick of a “natural” material
  • Rigid
  • Contains particles, so generally not recommended for cleanrooms
Wood Shaft Swabs

Choosing the Right Cleanroom Swab Tip Material

Below we summarize the benefits and uses of each cleanroom swab tip material to help you match the right properties to your application. It is important to note, however, that many of these swab tips also come in different shapes—including pointed, rectangular, and angled—to help users with specific cleaning or application tasks.

Knitted Polyester

  • Soft, non-abrasive, and lint-free
  • Easily withstands IPA, acetone, and other solvents
  • Non-absorbent
  • Low particle generation and low non-volatile residues (NVRs)
  • Made in a Class 1000 cleanroom
  • Ideal for cleaning electronics and communication devices, and excellent for instrumentation and medical device manufacturing
Knitted Polyester

Microfiber

  • Soft and non-abrasive
  • Low particle generation and low NVRs
  • Absorbent
  • Resistant to common cleaning solvents, making them ideal for removing contaminants and excess materials in sensitive assembly environments
  • Fiber is made from yarn smaller than polyester
  • Suitable for cleanrooms, fiber optics, and component manufacturing
Microfiber

PurSwab Foam

  • Synthetic – polyurethane foam
  • 100 PPI provides a good particle-trapping foam tip
  • Options include open-cell, closed-cell, dissipative, highly absorbent, and chemically resistant styles
  • Lint-free, making them great for removing epoxy residues from connectors, general cleaning, or as a flux remover
  • Thermal edge seals and thermal bonding to the handle help ensure the spongy foam removes unwanted particles without leaving anything behind
PurSwab Foam

Cotton-Over-Foam

  • Made from pharmaceutical-grade cotton tip with USP foam over break-resistant urethane foam for best absorption, performing well when cleaning with solvents
  • Friction bond
  • Cotton-over-foam holds better under heavy use compared to cotton alone
  • Extra absorbency
Cotton-Over-Foam

Chemical-Resistant Foam

  • Made from a unique polymer resistant to most solvents and aggressive chemicals (including acetone)
  • Used for general cleaning, removal, and application of adhesives and other solutions
  • The foam’s slightly coarse texture provides mild abrasion
Chemical-Resistant Foam

Antistatic and ESD Materials

  • Electronics and other sensitive devices should only be cleaned with ESD and/or antistatic swabs to prevent electrostatic discharge (ESD) and static buildup
  • Designed to work inside and around static-sensitive components and parts
  • Antistatic applicators are made with antistatic foam tips and conductive polypropylene or standard wooden shafts
  • ESD applicators are made with antistatic handles and unique tips, some made from ESD conductive foam, polyester, cotton, and nonwoven materials
Antistatic and ESD Materials

Cotton Type

  • "Standard"
  • Absorbent, fibrous
  • Soft
  • Many configurations possible
  • Inexpensive, easily available
  • Useful for non-medical applications

Cotton Type for Lint-Free Applications

  • Lint-free and residue-free
  • Soft
  • Some are provided in antistatic packaging
  • Typically double-ended
  • Used in HDD manufacturing
  • Suitable for cleanrooms
  • Smallest tips starting at 2 mm
  • Bulb and pointed styles
Cotton Type

Which Combination Is Right for Your Application?

Below you will find a snapshot of material types that work well with several common cleanroom applications.
APPLICATION SUITABLE SWAB
General Cleaning
  • Wood shaft cotton swab
  • Polypropylene shaft cotton-over-foam swab
Precision Cleaning and Decontamination
  • Polypropylene shaft PurSwab foam swab
  • Chemical-resistant foam on wood shaft cotton swab
  • Knitted polyester swab with polypropylene shaft
  • Antistatic foam swab with polypropylene shaft
  • Microfiber swab with polypropylene shaft
  • Knitted polyester swab with polypropylene shaft
Fiber Optic Cleaning
  • Foam swab with extra-stiff glass-filled polypropylene shaft
  • Knitted polyester swab with Delrin shaft
  • Microfiber swab with polypropylene shaft
Applying Adhesives and Other Solutions
  • Foam tip with polypropylene shaft
  • Knitted polyester swab with polypropylene shaft
  • Antistatic foam swab with polypropylene shaft
  • Antistatic foam corkscrew tip with polypropylene shaft
  • Antistatic foam on wood shaft cotton swab
  • Microfiber swab with polypropylene shaft
Precision Manufacturing
  • Knitted polyester swab with polypropylene shaft
  • Antistatic foam swab with polypropylene shaft
  • Antistatic foam corkscrew tip with polypropylene shaft
Electronics Manufacturing
  • Antistatic foam corkscrew tip with polypropylene shaft
  • Antistatic foam swab with polypropylene shaft
  • Antistatic foam on wood shaft cotton swab
  • Microfiber swab with antistatic shaft
Medical Device Manufacturing
  • Antistatic foam corkscrew tip with polypropylene shaft
  • Antistatic foam swab with polypropylene shaft
  • Antistatic foam on wood shaft cotton swab
  • Knitted polyester swab with polypropylene shaft
  • Microfiber swab with antistatic shaft

What to Look for in a Cleanroom Swab Supplier?

If you are meticulous about your cleanroom equipment, it is also important to be meticulous about your cleanroom equipment supplier. Puritan Medical Products is committed to providing a superior product for every application. This starts with selecting the highest quality materials and continues with our strict manufacturing specifications to ensure we deliver the quality you require.
Our sales representatives will be happy to help you determine which swab shaft and tip combinations are best for your specific needs.