Laser cleaning of insect residue in cw-regime with high scanning velocities
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: In laser-based cleaning of metallic surfaces pulsed and continuous wave (cw) processing must be distinguished. Pulsed laser cleaning, particularly in the context of laser-induced shock waves, offers advantages due to the combination of thermal and mechanical effects and not altering the metallic surface or its near surface microstructure. However, this approach is limited with respect to area throughput. This limitation is addressed by cw-laser cleaning at high scanning velocities. The present study investigates the effect of cw-laser cleaning at a scanning velocity of 15 m/s and multiple cleaning cycles on a metallic surface made of 1.4544.9 steel and Ti6Al4V contaminated with insect residues. No significant influence on the grain structure could be detected. The same applies to the microhardness of both treated and untreated regions. The in-situ use of compressed air as replacement for shockwaves in pulsed cleaning regime resulted in an almost complete cleaning effect. These findings demonstrate that cleaning metallic surfaces contaminated with insect residues is feasible in cw-mode at high scanning speeds and thus high area throughput of around 8 cm 2 /s without damaging or significantly altering the metallic surface or its near-surface microstructure.
Source: Procedia CIRP
Authors: Tom Siemonsen, Andreas Krämer, Lewin Rathmann, Tim Radel
Language: English
Subfield: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: Clean Aviation
OpenAlex ID: W7202267669