Decoating

The use of lasers for ablative material removal was first proposed in 1987.
The advantage of the laser system is that paint removal can be maximised and concurrently minimize substrate damage. Testing with lasers has found that laser based coating removal results in a cleaner substrate surface than any other method and is especially well suited for composite cleaning.

Given below is a summary of the decoating systems with a summary of the specifications for the most common configuration. For more information on each laser use the highlighted link.

With the implementation of current legislation, particularly ISO14000, with regards to waste management of current paint stripping chemical becoming more and more stringent, laser based paint stripping may present a cost affordable alternative. Up to now commercially available lasers have been restricted by their slow removal rates. However, SDILasers has developed  ~1,000W and 2,000W high repetition rate, high power systems for this specific purpose.
Experiments on several different types of metallic and composite panels from both Airbus and Boeing has demonstrated that the system is capable of achieving stripping at rates as high as 10.7m².hr^-1. Techno-economic studies have shown that the laser can outperform the current conventional chemical stripping processes at this rate.