Laser Ablation

Category: Decontamination > Thermal Surface Removal > Laser Heating , Etching and Ablation
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Laser ablation is used as a means of concrete surface removal. This technology uses an industrial 1600 W pulsed Nd:YAG laser operating at a wavelength of 1064 nm. The beam is delivered via a 10 m long by 1 mm diameter fiber optic cable and focused on the surface to spot sizes ranging from 0.5 mm to a few mm in diameter. A particle impactor can be used to collect and analyze the size distribution of the aerosol portion of the ablation effluent. " Large Area Dry Decontamination Technology "

Benefits

•By using this technology the power can be delivered remotely via articulated mirrors or fiber optic cables and the ablation head can be manipulated by robots, thus avoiding exposing workers and to the laser system to the radiation field. •Lasers can be instrumented with spectrometers or effluent sampling devices to provide for on-line analysis. •Laser beams can penetrate cracks or follow very rough or irregularly shaped surfaces. •It produces the smallest possible waste stream since no cleaning agents such as detergents or grit (from grit blasting systems) are mixed with the effluent.

Limitations

•Careful control of pulse overlap must be achieved to allow rapid heating of the material to a temperature at which thermal shock cracks and disaggregates the concrete.

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	Laser ablation 1
	Laser ablation 2

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