Care of Carbon Fiber Rotor

Carbon fiber rotors are extremely durable and designed to give many years of continuous service in all types of laboratory. This article describes the procedures that should be used to ensure the long life of your rotor which has a Lifetime Warranty.

The most important procedure for all rotors is to ensure that the rotor is cleaned regularly after use.  This is essential not only for safety purposes but also to maximize the life of the rotor. Particular care must be taken in cleaning and decontaminating rotors after they have been used with hazardous materials such as radioisotopes or infectious organisms and these aspects are dealt with in later sections of this article. While carbon fiber rotors are not affected by the corrosive action of salts, all rotors contain some metal components and these can corrode depending on the exact alloy present. Hence, all rotors should be cleaned on at least a daily basis.

Unlike metal rotors, carbon fiber rotors can be washed with strong laboratory detergent solutions, even alkaline detergents. Rotors can be either washed in detergent solutions or, if necessary, the rotor pockets can be filled with detergent solution and left overnight to remove any resistant deposits. We recommend the use of FIBERClene cleaning agent since this has been specially formulated for cleaning carbon fiber material and is very safe environmentally. It is important to note that the metal parts of the rotor should not be exposed to detergent solution for any prolonged length of time as otherwise they may corrode. If deposits of the material have accumulated in the rotor then it may be necessary to use a soft brush to dislodge them from the surface. Scratches will affect the cosmetic appearance of the rotor but, unlike metal rotors, scratches do not affect the chemical resistance of the rotor material in any way.

Most radioisotopes can be readily removed from FIBERLite CENTRIFUGE rotors because they do not usually bind to the surfaces of composite rotors in the same tenacious way as they do to metallic rotors. Hence, carbon fiber rotors are much easier to decontaminate than metallic rotors. There are a number of commercially available detergents for removing radioisotopes from centrifuge rotors and these can be used for decontaminating FIBERLite CENTRIFUGE rotors. In addition, most general laboratory detergents can be used to remove radioisotopes from rotors without harming the carbon fiber material or the rotor finish. However, we would recommend FIBERClene that is a cleaning agent specially formulated for FIBERLite CENTRIFUGE rotors. In most cases, radioisotopic contamination can be removed simply by wiping the affected part of the rotor with a tissue soaked in the cleaning agent or detergent. In the case of high levels of contamination, it may be necessary to soak the rotor overnight to achieve complete removal of the radioisotope.

Infectious agents can be broadly classified into fungi, bacteria, viruses, and prions. Centrifuge rotors may become contaminated with one or more of these infectious agents depending on the application that the rotor be being used for. It is essential that after any work with samples that may be associated with infectious agents, the rotor is immediately disinfected before further use. When the rotor is regularly used with infectious agents, a clear schedule of decontamination should be instituted and the rotor should be clearly marked as being likely to be contaminated with biohazards material.

Disinfection of rotors can be carried out in a number of different ways. However, some methods, for example UV light irradiation are not very practical for centrifuge rotors. In other cases, the chemical susceptibility of rotor material(s) restricts the type of disinfection process that can be used. For example, sterilization with ethylene oxide vapor or disinfection with 10% hydrogen peroxide are not recommended for FIBERLite CENTRIFUGE carbon fiber rotors. In contrast, the use of 0.1M sodium hydroxide, recommended for inactivating prions, is compatible with carbon fiber rotors but not with aluminum rotors. The final choice of disinfection used for the rotor depends primarily on the nature of the infectious agent thought to be contaminating the rotor. For example, in terms of disinfection by heat treatment, relatively low temperatures of about 60° C while bacterial spores are very heat resistant and are only killed inactivate many viruses by autoclaving. In fact, autoclaving is the preferred method for disinfecting rotors because it does not involve any chemicals, some of which are harmful and even suspected carcinogens. When using chemical disinfection it is essential to ensure that all parts of the rotor are treated, preferably for at least 30 minutes, although some infectious agents may require treatment for up to 10-12 hours for complete sterilization. The table below summarizes the disinfection properties of various procedures.

The recommendations given here are only for guidance and therefore before implementing any of these procedures the user should verify that they are appropriate by consulting the appropriate reference sources.

Inspection of rotors

Your FIBERLite CENTRIFUGE rotor has been designed to last a lifetime and provided that the rotor has been used correctly it should not require any maintenance other than routine cleaning. However, if it is possible that the rotor has been overstressed by, for example, centrifuging samples denser than 1.2 g/ml without derating the maximum speed of the rotor or if the rotor has been dropped onto a solid surface (e.g. concrete) from a height of 1.0m (3ft) or more sufficient to mark the outside of the rotor then it should be returned to the factory for specialist inspection.