Laser cleaning of corrosion, efficient and environmentally friendly method

Abstract

In recent years, lasers have been used more and more in different areas of human life, science, industry, medicine, military, agriculture, and show business, protection of environmental and culturalheritage objects, in the arts and so on. Laser technology has some advantages in many areas over classical methods. This paper presents the results of laser application for cleaning corrosion of metal objects, cooper and brass. The first sample was oxidised cooper plate and the second ashtray made of brass. Nd: YAG laser was used as a source of radiation to clean surface corrosion deposits. Removal of layers from the surface occurs through the process of laser ablation. Three wavelengths were used with different fluences. The cleaning results, i.e. the morphological and chemical changes were investigated by optical microscopy, XRF analysis and colorimetry. The obtained results show that lasers are efficient corrosion cleaning and environmentally friendly method.