Title: The Effectiveness of Cold Laser Ablation on the Remediation of Contaminated Composite Surfaces

Authors: Joann L. Hilman and R. Giles Dilingham

DOI: 10.33599/nasampe/s.24.0041

Abstract: "Legacy remediation procedures for contaminated composite surfaces are often labor-intensive manual processes such as solvent wiping + abrasion. Increased interest in automated technology to reduce time and variability Has made cold laser ablation (UV or ultra-fast) gain popularity. One advantage for laser surface preparation of metals is that the cleaning process can increase the surface energy, improving bondability. This has not been the case for many composite materials. This work compares the effectiveness of two cold laser systems on the remediation of contaminated composite surfaces. The results are compared to plasma treatment which effectively increases surface energy but tends to have difficulty removing contaminants. The two lasers examined in this work were a nanosecond UV laser (355 nm) and near-IR femtosecond laser (1030 nm). Contaminants were silicone mold release and hydraulic fluid. which were diluted and spin coated onto composite coupons. Water contact angle and XPS were used to monitor the surface state and chemistry before and after ablation. SEM was used to investigate surface morphology. Both lasers removed silicone mold release, ablation of the hydraulic fluid was incomplete. "

References: 1.F. Fischer, S. Kreling, P. Jäschke, M. Frauenhofer, D. Kracht and K. Dilger, Laser Surface Pre-Treatment of CFRP for Adhesive. The Journal of Adhesion, vol. 88, no. 4-6, pp. 350-363, 2012. 2.T. Lippert, UV Laser Ablation of Polymers: From Structuring to Thin Film Deposition. Laser-Surface Interactions for New Materials Production, Berlin, Springer, 2010, pp. 141-175. 3.X. Zhao and Y. C. Shin, Coulomb explosion and early plasma generation during femtosecond laser ablation of silicon. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys, vol. 46, no. 33, pp. 1-10, 2013. 4.J. L. Hilman and R. G. Dillingham, Investigating how peel ply affects initial conditions and aging of carbon fiber reinforced polymer surface chemistry. CAMX Conference Proceedings, pp. 131-143, 2022. 5.C. W. Extrand and S. I. Moon, When Sessile Drops Are No Longer Small: Transitions from Spherical to Fully Flattened. Langmuir, vol. 26, no. 14, p. 11815–11822, 2010. 6.J. Hilman, G. Dillingham and R. Roberts, Cold laser ablation as a remediation strategy for contaminated CFRP surfaces. in CAMX Conference Procedings, Atlanta, 2023. 7.R. J. Morgan and E. T. Mones, The cure reactions, network structure, and mechanical response of diaminodiphenyl sulfone-cured tetraglycidyl 4,4′diaminodiphenyl methane epoxies. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, vol. 33, pp. 999-1020, 1987. 8.J. Boland, Voltage contrast XPS: a novel scheme for spatially resolved XPS studies. Surface and Interface Analysis, vol. 10, no. 2-3, pp. 149-152, 1987.

Conference: SAMPE 2024

Publication Date: 2024/05/20

SKU: TP24-0000000041

Pages: 10

Price: $20.00