Laser Cleaning Solutions for Aviation Parts

Aircraft have almost stringent safety requirements, so in the aviation industry, whether it is production or maintenance, the first thing to think about when improving every process is not cost, but safety.

As the main structural material of the space shuttle, aluminum alloy is widely used in key parts such as spacecraft skins, propellers, fuel tanks and landing gear pillars. Aluminum with copper as the main alloying element is mainly used to produce large aircraft skins due to its high strength, high heat resistance and good processing performance. Aluminum exposed to air will naturally form an uneven and discontinuous oxide film on the surface, which must be completely removed before the component is repainted and welded, otherwise it will affect the coating bonding force and weld quality.

At present, a mixture of chromic acid, sulfuric acid, and hydrofluoric acid is generally used to remove the oxide film on the surface of rolled aluminum alloy parts, while nitric acid is generally used to remove die castings. However, chemical cleaning methods require manual participation and cause pollution to the environment. Cleaning quality is also difficult to guarantee.

In recent years, laser cleaning has become one of the mainstream directions of cleaning technology due to its wide applicability, processing accuracy and environmental protection of the cleaning process, and is widely used in the industrial process of surface coating removal before and after welding. Based on this, laser cleaning as a treatment method for aluminum alloy spraying and welding is an effective means.