Everything you need to know about laser stripping!
If you're looking to use laser stripping, it's probably because you've already heard about it from others. But before using this technology, it's important to have a clear understanding of this technique industrial blasting to know if it's truly suited to your needs.
After all, if you're searching for this technique, it's because your need is based on efficiency!
Characteristics and advantages of laser stripping...
What does this technique involve?
Are you looking to clean your surface while respecting it to the maximum, for "small batch" or "large batch" processing or cleaning, for small surface parts or large dimensions?
Today, many solutions with high efficiency exist, including the use of laser for surface treatment at high speed : rust removal, paint stripping, degreasing operations, etc., all with great precision !
Often known for its powerful and invisible rays as well as its pulses à hhigh energy, laser stripping is one of the most effective solutions known to date. This unique technology involves stripping and cleaning all metal surfaces without damaging them.
How does a laser work?
Le laser concentrates light energy, which could be compared to micro projectiles that attack and vaporize the unwanted coating (such as rust), at a rate of 200,000 pulses per minute,all with great ease and above all great respect for the base materials being treated.
Examples : rusty surfaces, aluminum stripping (surface degreasing), paint removal on ironwork...
This technique transforms the pollution into a plasma : the pollution becomes charged with thermal energy and transforms into a compressed ionized gas, whose expansion causes fragmentation and expulsion waste, of dirt, without damaging the substrate or base material.
The process involves "collecting" the gases and particles generated during the operation.
The dry ice blasting process in detail... :
Let's take a concrete example: you decide to strip a machine tool, completely rusted, still operational and efficient despite its age, but aesthetically "mediocre".
You know perfectly well that you'll spend a lot, a lot, a lot... of time for a result that's barely satisfactory, at best "could do better".
" Thanks to laser stripping, the most resistant coatings will be stripped instantly without the slightest effort or fatigue. "An impeccable result, your surface will be like new!
Discover the process below in video
Why use this process?
Laser stripping has many advantages, it respects all of your surface while stripping and cleaning surfaces in an integral way. The laser can reach the most difficult surfaces with no physical contact whatsoever.Consider that different treatments exist.
Important note before using this process: the nature of the base materials, what material you want to remove from the surface, and obviously what level of cleaning power you need.
The 10 advantages of laser cleaning
- Surface respect (rust, paint, oil, soot…)
- Allows treatment of the most resistant coatings without damaging or altering surfaces
- No use of reactants
- Extraction and filtration system that respects the environment
- Removes coating in precise locations (even hard to reach places)
- Usable indoors and outdoors
- Non-contact process
- No solvents
- Compliance with environmental standards
- No noise pollution
Application examples & business sectors
- Rust stripping, oxidation
- Mold cleaning, plastics, rubber, tires...
- Food industry stripping (waffle mold stripping...)
- Anilox roller stripping (million dots)
- Industrial paint stripping, epoxy paint (single or multiple coats)
- Weld bead stripping
- Wood stripping (fire soot or city pollution)
- Automotive industry
- Ideal for surface preparation
In summary, stripping by "high power" laser...
- Allows removal from all types of materials (excluding plastics) or surfaces, pollutants such as paint, or rust, or grease, etc.
- Combines advantages du thermal stripping with mechanical descaling (bombardment of the surface by pulsed laser).
The power of pulsed laser beam technology (or laser process) allows selective and localized stripping on coatings or parts while respecting the base material, without using consumables (solvents, abrasives...): the absorbed energy creates a plasma on the pollution.
La contaminants se vaporizes en micro-particles and are aspirated either manually (a huge advantage compared to sandblasting), or via a device installed on the laser gun or firing pistol (above or below the laser beam).
This process can be used either by the industrialist to increase its productivity, through the use of a robot on the production line, in a system fully automated ou semi-automatedmanner, or by a service de provider as part of industrial cleaning operations, to strip surfaces very quickly.
Process advantages
- mold cleaning (ensures unparalleled cleanliness, without altering the surface). Ex: rubber mold
- ensures significant productivity,
- selective stripping of the target material,
- detaches pollution into fine particles and doesn't generate secondary waste,
- allows stripping of machines and production tools,
- surface-respectful technique (laser = non-intrusive stripping solution, without substrate alteration).
IMPORTANT :
Laser stripping requires the use of suitable protective eyewear EN207
- Also consider: rental (requires P.E.R.L training), after-sales service, maintenance costs... all questions you may want to ask suppliers.
- Although some videos circulate about wood stripping, M.O.P.A laser stripping is not recommended for this type of surface. The search for focal distance between the firing gun and the surface can cause surface heating and thus create a pyrographyeffect... The laser suited for this type of work is the Multi-Mode laser (available from June 2024 on this site).
- Laser stripping is also unsuitable for treating plastic surfaces. This type of surface absorbs the energy emitted by the laser source in a huge way: as a result, the plastic "softens", burns, and emits toxic gases.
- For "deep" rust stripping operations, we recommend using a CW continuous wave laser
On the same topic
The advantages of laser cleaning compared to chemical stripping
Discover in the article The benefits of laser stripping versus chemical baths, all the advantages associated with using a super-powerful light beam, particularly for restoring steel-type surfaces.
What impact does laser cleaning have on environmental protection?
Many surface restoration techniques exist, but they too often have an extremely negative ecological impact. Discover in the following article, the many positive aspects of laser cleaning in ecological terms
Laser cleaning machines
Discover all laser cleaning equipment from the H series range, suitable for all types of work: professional, industrial, or historical renovation. Click on the following link to discover all laser surface restoration equipment
Laser cleaning applications
We have listed in this section, laser cleaning applications, with M.O.P.A, CW and CL Multi-Mode equipment. This section will be updated regularly.
