Paint removal on the 5A06 aluminum alloy using a continuous wave fiber laser

Paint removal is an important part of ship and marine engineering ship processing. Aluminum alloy is extremely vital in the field of shipbuilding, due to its high strength and strong corrosion resistance ability. Therefore, the cleaning quality of aluminum alloy is a key factor in the service life of the ship. In this paper, the research about continuous wave (CW) laser cleaning technique is employed to clean the paint on the substrate of aluminum alloy. The track width and depth of laser ablated craters are measured to study the removal rates. The analysis of CW laser cleaning is performed to explain the removal process that is theoretically based on the cleaning model, temperature, and the thermal stress profiles. The parametric and morphological studies indicate that the cleaned surface of aluminum alloy could be achieved at proper parameters. The performance of the laser cleaned surface at an intensity of 11.9 W/cm² has better corrosion resistance and surface roughness. Therefore, the experimental results were considered to provide more completed and further understandings of interaction mechanism between the laser and paint on the aluminum alloy substrate, which could make some contributions to the development of laser manufacturing.