the thermal silicone oil base grease used on module caps and to which the present invention is applied has the following composition : ______________________________________carrier silicone oil 16 . 22 % filler material zinc oxide 83 . 45 % anti - bleed agent fumed silica 0 . 33 % ______________________________________ as was previously mentioned , this grease is very difficult to remove and if not completely removed , it will interfere with subsequent module operations such as soldering . in accordance with the present invention , the following process effectively removes the above - described silicone oil base grease from module caps : 1 . mix 10 % by volume of uresolve plus and 90 % by volume of methylene chloride . the essential elements of the uresolve plus composition comprise the following : approximately 60 to 80 percent by volume of ethylene glycol monomethyl ether , the remainder of the elements including wetting agents , color , oxygenated solvent , and a strong base . 2 . using a sonicor bench top ultrasonic unit , a product of american scientific products , place a beaker containing the uresolve plus and methylene chloride in the ultrasonic unit . 3 . place the caps having the grease to be removed in the solution and ultrasonically agitate for one minute . the methylene chloride is a chlorinated hydrocarbon solvent which when agitated is effective to remove the bulk of the grease zinc oxide particles and creates voids which allow it to dissolve the silicone oil base leaving a thin film which strongly adheres to the metal cap . uresolve plus is a depotting compound used to dissolve epoxies and also silicones . further , agitation of the uresolve plus removes this thin silicone oil film . evidence of the caps being clean was shown by the absence of water beading . the process is described as using the preferred volume ratio of 10 % uresolve plus and 90 % methylene chloride . however , the process will work effectively using a volume range of 8 - 12 % uresolve plus and 88 - 92 % methylene chloride . a beaker holding 300 cc of the solution was used for test purposes . it was found that up to 5 caps could be placed in the beaker and processed and good cleaning results were obtained . if more than 5 caps were placed in the beaker , a white zinc oxide film will redeposit on the cleaned caps . this film cannot be removed by water rinsing . of course , if larger beakers are used with more solution , proportionally more caps will be effectively cleaned before the formation of the zinc oxide occurs . to remove the zinc oxide film when too many caps are processed together , one of the following options may be chosen : ______________________________________solution 1 solution 2 comments______________________________________option 110 % uresolve 10 - 30 % nitric can be used onplus acid chromated caps90 % methylenechlorideoption 295 cc &# 39 ; s of 10 % 10 % of uresolve the zinc oxideuresolve plus and 90 % oxide powderplus and 90 % methylene dissolves inmethylene chloride solution 1chloride plus5 cc &# 39 ; s of glacialacetic acidoption 310 % uresolve 10 % uresolve solution 1plus plus is a sludge90 % methylene 90 % methylene potchloride chloride______________________________________ solution 1 is a stripping solution and solution 2 is a rinsing solution . a final water rinse is used on all options . the option used depends on what surface the grease is on . for example , if the grease is to be removed from caps , options 1 or 2 may be used . if the grease is to be removed from chips on the substrates , option 3 is used . it should be noted that the ultrasonic unit used is not capable of removing chips from the substrates . in summary , a process has been provided which effectively removes a silicone oil based thermal grease from metal caps leaving a water - break - free surface with no detrimental effects to the caps , substrates or chips . while there has been described and pointed out the fundamental features of the invention as applied to the preferred embodiment , it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes may be made in the form and details of the embodiment by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention . it is the intention , therefore , to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims .