Effect of High-Power Laser Cleaning for Surface Contaminants Removal on SS304L

Abstract

In this study, artificially formed corrosion and paint layers on 304L stainless steel (SS304L) specimen were removed using a kilowatt level high-power Nd:YAG laser. A laser power of 1140 W and a pulse duration of 89 ns were used for the corrosion removal, and a laser power of 850 W and a pulse duration of 54 ns were adopted for the paint removal. Surface composition was analyzed via electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis before and after the laser cleaning process, confirming that the corrosion and paint layers were successfully removed from the SS304L surface by the laser cleaning process. The effect of the laser cleaning process on the mechanical properties of SS304L was investigated. The hardness and tensile strength of the laser-cleaned specimens were analyzed to determine their mechanical properties. After the laser cleaning process, the surface hardness was slightly increased up to depths of 250 µm for the corrosion removal and up to 50 µm for the paint removal. However, only marginal changes in tensile strength and elongation were detected after the laser cleaning process. These results confirmed that laser cleaning can effectively remove surface contaminants (i.e., corrosion and paint) on SS304L with only a minimum modification of microstructure and mechanical properties.