What Are Laser Cleaning Machines?
What is metalwork without laser cleaning machines? Industries used traditional cleaning methods before the invention of laser cleaning machines. These methods were either tedious, environmentally unfriendly, or rough. This placed a quest for lasers. Its discovery impacted many industries including medicine and IT. So far, laser cleaning has undergone a series of technological advancements. It is now applied in different industries including IT and medicine.
Laser cleaning machines use laser technology to clean surfaces. This technology adopts a pulse fiber laser – a highly powered laser beam that cleans delicate surfaces. They also remove oxide coatings. Imagine removing rust, and paint off a surface without destroying it.
How Do Laser Cleaning Machines Work?
- Laser Ablation
This involves using a laser beam to remove a material layer or coating. The laser beam breaks the molecular bond between the dust or rust layer and ejects it from the substrate. For this process to work, the laser beam has to reach the ablation threshold of the material cleaned. A laser beam vaporizes rust or dust particles from the material being cleaned.
- Highly Selective Cleaning
The laser cleaning machine has to reach the required ablation threshold. That’s how the beam will discriminate materials that are lower than this threshold. The beam blows off the material below the threshold and leaves the rest untouched.
- Pulsed Laser Beams
The logic behind pulsed laser beams is time reduction. While there are other alternatives, the main goal is to reduce the cleaning time. A continuous beam will result in high power, overheating, and longer removal time. However, a pulsed beam takes shorter and doesn’t heat too much the underlying material.
Advantages of Laser Cleaning Machines
- Price-friendly
No matter how effective a solution is, if it threatens to empty your savings, then it might not be an option. Safe enough, laser cleaning machines are affordable to acquire and use. Since they adopt pulsed beams, contamination removal is fast. That means less consumption of energy.
- Efficient Cleaning Method
Unlike the traditional methods of sandblasting or manual cleaning, laser cleaning uses beams. Contaminants with a lower ablation threshold are vaporized. The material undergoing cleaning remains safe, clean, and unscratched.
- Eco-friendly
Traditional cleaning methods like using chemicals to clean oxides are often hazardous. Laser machines require no cleaning fluid, making it very friendly to the environment. Besides, you’ll only need laser-protective glasses. After cleaning, you’ll have less waste to manage. You’re good to go with a smoking dust device as the particles will be vaporized by the laser beam.
- Precision
You can always bank on laser cleaning even for very delicate materials. Laser beams will only discriminate the coatings below the abrasion threshold. With this technology, the material will remain usable after the cleaning. This is regardless of how delicate the material is.
- Easy to Operate
The laser cleaner machine comes with a user manual. Follow through the guide for successful installation and operation. This is always straightforward, requiring no prior experience.
Applications of Laser Cleaning Machines
Electronics industry: Laser beams remove coatings from the pin without any damage. Beams also remove oxide coatings to increase electrical contact. There’s also high pollution accuracy.
- Buildings And Monuments
Laser cleaning also preserves the original appearance of a monument or special stones. It seamlessly cleans out dark spots between crevices. A laser is as efficient as vaporizing layers of dust within parts that cannot be reached by hand.
- Nuclear Power Plants
The hardest thing to deal with in nuclear power stations is radioactive dust. The dust can cause serious health issues for those working at the station. This is why every nuclear power station has a laser cleaning machine.
- Airplane
Have you ever wondered what happens when a pain needs repainting? You’d be wrong to think that the new paint is applied on top of the old one. Instead, laser cleaning happens, and within a few minutes, all the old paint is gone.
- Weapon Maintenance
Laser cleaning machines enable the automatic removal of pollutants and rust on weapons. In this way, you don’t have to deal with chemical waste after cleaning.
Conclusion
Choosing or buying a laser cleaning machine shouldn’t be a hassle. However, there are many counterfeit products out there with cheaper prices. Note that cheap doesn’t always offer high quality. Likewise, not all expensive laser cleaning machines are worth the money.
Now you have an idea of what a good laser cleaning machine should look like. The above information will help you to sift through the millions of options. Whenever you feel stuck, get in touch with a brand’s customer service. A good company should have responsive customer service at the click of a button. Click this link to get more and better options to choose from.