LASER CLEANING
“Laser cleaning can be conducted either in person using a handheld system, or remotely via
robotics within an enclosure”
similar to plastic, the majority of rubber and elastomeric materials would likely not be as easily cleanable with a laser due to the ease at which they could be damaged. That’s not to say it is impossible, but exceptional care (likely ensured via an automated, rather than handheld, laser cleaning solution) would be needed to achieve the extreme precision required to remove the surface contaminant without damaging the underlying substrate. While not a common
application of the technology, glass is another material that can be cleaned using lasers. Examples include the cleaning of sooted optical windows, the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage stained glass windows, and of course Tesla’s ambitious desire to create laser- based windscreen wipers (www.
lasersystemseurope.com/news/ tesla-laser-cleaning-patent).
Laser cleaning can be performed within an enclosure via an automated robot
particular, the level of precision granted by laser cleaning makes it well-suited to cleaning extremely delicate stone objects, such as in the restoring of statues, figures, and ornaments, as well as larger surfaces such as building facades. Here, manual cleaning would have proven to be too abrasive, and could have damaged the substrates being cleaned.
While lasers are not as commonly used to clean
plastics than the other- mentioned materials, they have been shown to be an effective solution for removing contaminants such as adhesion blockers from certain types of plastic. For example, polypropylene, acrylonitrile- butadiene-styrene copolymer, fibre-reinforced polyurethane and some carbon-fibre reinforced plastics (CFRPs) have all been cleaned successfully using lasers. For many other
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plastics, however, laser cleaning would likely not be suitable, as it would likely risk causing damage such as carbonisation or melting of the substrate. Similar to plastic, certain
types of rubber have been cleaned successful using lasers. For example, in the automotive industry, lasers have been successfully used to clean the inside of tyres in before bonding sensors and other materials to them. However, also
What industries is laser cleaning used in? Due to its flexibility in both how it can be deployed and the number of materials it can process, laser cleaning is already well-established across a wide range of industries in applications ranging in size from treating large aircraft down to tiny microchips. In the automotive industry,
for example, lasers are used to remove the phosphate layer from bevel gears and other parts prior to welding to ensure less spatter and fewer pores, or to clean tyre and tooling moulds of contamination. For the e-mobility sector, lasers can be used for the pre-treatment of aluminium components in the manufacture of battery
g THE 2023 GUIDE TO LASER SYSTEMS LASER SYSTEMS EUROPE 61
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