Paint stripping with nontoxic chemicals

Abstract

New chemical strippers that have low toxicity and that pose no serious threat to the environment are now available for use in place of methylene chloride-based strippers. These products have successfully stripped a large number of aircraft and their use will continue to increase. As expected, these products usually take longer to remove paint than the equivalent methylene chloride-based products, but the difference is acceptable in most cases. They have low toxicity; therefore, it is not always necessary to totally evacuate the area being used for stripping. Some work that would have to be postpoined until after the stripping was completed, if methylene chloride-based products were used, can now be done while the stripper is doing its job. In some cases, the stripper can be applied and allowed to dwell for a number of hours, or overnight, while the crew is busy with other tasks or has gone home. Recent developments indicate that even better performance is possible than what has been observed in the field so far.