Clean lasersysteme gmbh

SUSTAINABLE LASER SURFACE TREATMENT AND CLEANING
IN AERONAUTICS AND AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS

Clean-Lasersysteme GmbH
Edwin Büchter CEO/President
Awardee of the
“German Environmental Award“ 2010

Herzogenrath/Aachen
Germany
www.cleanlaser.com

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter


PROCESS OPTIMIZATION BY LASERTECHNOLOGY
LASERS CHANGE THE INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

WELDING

CLADDING

MEASURING

CLEANING

HARDENING

DRILLING

STRUCTURING

CUTTING

FINE-CUTTING

RAPID PROTOTYPING

courtesy: FhG-ILT

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter

TECHNOLOGY allows news sustainable and
integrated process and workflow


THE FIRST IN THE NICHE – FROM TESTING TO INSTALLATION
WE PROVIDE SOLUTIONS

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EXPERIENCE: on the market since 16 years, roots: Fraunhofer ILT
CONTINOUS: Both founders are acting as CEO‘s and managing the buisness
COMPLETE: APPLICATION / LASERS / DESIGN / MACHINES
MADE IN GERMANY: Facility (ca. 1.600 m²) in technologyregion Aachen
ENGINEERING: ~ 40 % engineers, >10% of turnover re-invested in R&D
TEAM: >60 qualified team members
NUMBERS: >500 laser units and systems produced for industrial use
GROWTH 2013: Turnover >11.5 Mio. €
AWARDED: GERMAN ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD 2010 (highest doped European Award)
ENVIRONMENT: environmental friendly production, saving resources by using our products
SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter


Why? REPLACE DETERGENTS BY LIGHT

APPLICATION:

GREASE AND OIL
CONVENTIONAL MULTI
REMOVAL BY LIGHT
STEP CLEANING
cleaning prior to welding / cleaning of sealent areas

ADVANTAGES:

small footprint (2m² vs. >30m²), media free, no waste disposal high
uptime, direct in line, process monitoring

SAVINGS:

No cleaning media, no detergents
up to ten times less power consumption

POLITICS:

savings of ressources in wash processes is already part of environmental
guidlines at major AUTOMOTIVE OEM‘s such as Volkswagen
Political requested reduction in industrial energy consumption 20%!

COST:

typically: > 10 ct/part (e.g. gear part)

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter


ADVANTAGE CLEAN-LASER
OUR PATENTED ABLATION STRATEGY – SCAN AND MOVE

ABLATION PRINCIPLE
• Up to 50.000 very short pulses per
second
• Line-shaped beam deflection
• Very short impact times due to
scanned laser-beam
• Exclusive licensed Patent Pending
for manual cleaning with scanned

beam
SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter


HOW DOES IT WORK?
LASER RADIATION FOR CLEANING AND
ABLATION
ABLATION PRINCIPLE
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Edwin Büchter

Coating and dirt layer is
removed by absorbing the
focused laser spot
Very powerful but short laser
pulses (~<100ns) cause very
little thermal influence on the
base material
Blank base material reflects
laser radiation, ablation
process stops

Excellent applicable on metal
surfaces
Limited applicable on plastics
surfaces (wavelength
restrictions)


cleanLASER TECHNOLOGY
SUITABLE FOR DIFFERENT SPEED DEMANDS

LOW POWER

MID POWER LASER

HIGH POWER LASER

Backpack / CL12 - CL 100

CL 150 – CL 600

CL 1000

cleanCELL

adapted cleanCELL

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Edwin Büchter

robotCELL

cleanBOX

GANTRY


MAJOR APPLICATION IN AERONAUTICS
A WIDE RANGE OF OPPORTUNITIES

Precise paint removal
for electrical bonding

CFRP Treatment
for bonding

Pre-treatment of metal
for coating and bonding

Large Area paint removal
in service

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter

Mould & tool cleaning in
composite production

Paint activation in
production and service

CLEANLASER TECHNOLOGY IN USE AT EADS & AIRBUS
INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION EXAMPLE

Work cell with
workstation laser
for serial
production at
AIRBUS

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Laser system for precise paint stripping application in production
Manufacturer specified test-program successfully completed
Result: no damage of metal ground material after de-coating
cleanLASER equipment (workstation with work cell) is in use for serial production
Clean-Laser is in use in serial production! (Qualified process) since 2001
11 units in total in use for this application
Patent pending (exclusive Licensed by cleanLASER)

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter

CLEANLASER TECHNOLOGY IN USE AT EADS & AIRBUS
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SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter

Laser system for precise paint stripping
application in production
Manufacturer specified test-program successfully
completed
Result: no damage of metal ground material after
de-coating
cleanLASER equipment (workstation with work
cell) is in use for serial production
Clean-Laser is in use in serial production!
(Qualified process) since 2001
9 units in total in use for this application
Also applicable on CFRP copper mash decoating


NEW SPECIAL SOLUTION OPTICS
THE “DUCKHEAD” for limited access

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Edwin Büchter

FEATURES AND OPTIONS
• Special Optics for backside
laser mirroring application
(electrical bonding and
adhesive bonding preparation)
• Special light-weight lens
package optical designed @
cleanLASER
• Compact version


LARGE AREA PAINT-STRIPPING FOR SERVICE

CR VI BASED
PAINT MUST BE
STRIPPED FOR
SEVERAL
PURPOSES

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Edwin Büchter


JGPP TEST PROGRAMM
HELPING THE US AIR-FORCE TO SAVE VOC’S
• US Air-Force pollution prevention group (JGPP)

• Evaluation process for the implementation of portable
laser coating removal technology
• Testing of different substrates and coatings
• Many tests procedures are almost similar to SAE
MA4872 Standard
• Approval for 300W and 500W laser released
• Extensive field tests have been successfully
completed at 3 Air Force Bases
• Total of 14 systems in use (Army and Air Force)
• Result: clean laser systems are a valuable alternative
to conventional surface preparation methods
• 7 more CL300 units have been procured and
delivered for F16 application

Evaluation trials at U.S. Air Force
Photo: SAIC

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter


CLEAN-LASER SELECTIVE PAINT STRIPPING

Selective coatings removal (de-glossing for
adhesion improvement
• Organic residues and dirt is removed
• Paint is re-activated
• Best wetability
• Best adhesion results
C17 Slat

End of a C-17 slat

• Activation only is highly efficient and area rates of
20m²/hr and more (CL500) have been achieved
• Process is In use at US Air-Force on Metal and non
metal substrates
• Probably EADS Manching did investigations on this
topic also (detailed status unknown)

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter


LASER SYSTEMS IN THE AC INDUSTRY PAINT STRIPPING ONLY
SYSTEMS IN DELIVERED
6 x 120 W, mobile
8 x 500 W, mobile
8 x 300W, in production
Cleaning & Paint Removal
(production, approved for C130 and F16)

1 x 500 W, mobile
5 units (mid Power) WorkStation for
Precise Paint Removal (Laser Mirroring)
2xCL 40 for CFRP treatment
4x CL 20 for CFRP treatment
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Edwin Büchter

AL-WELDING PRE-TREATMENT – FROM AUTOMOTIVE TO AERONAUTICS
AL- BASED BODY IN WHITE PRODUCTION

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Treatment with CL500 / CL300 Laser
Removal of oxidation and grease layers
Pre-treatment for joining of Al 6000- alloys sheet metal
Local area cleaning with up to 5m/min (dry lubricant removal)
Constant surface quality for welding
Comparable to chemical cleaning results
Direct and in-line
Status: in serial production at AUDI for TT and other Audi models
SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter


PRE-TREATMENT OF LIGHT METAL FOR ADHESIVE BONDING

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MODIFICATION/
ROUGHNESS

Oxide removal and cleaning
Micro roughening possible
Surface modification
Up to 5 times better long term adhesive
bonding stability
Pre-treatment speed of up to 30cm²/s
applicable

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter

AMORPHEOUS
SURFACE LAYER

Long term shear strength of AL
blue: cleanLASER
grey: wet-chemical cleaning


2D SIMULATION OF TEMPERATURE DEVIATION OF SINGLE PULSE STIMULATION

THE QUICKEST CONDITIONING YOU’VE EVER SEEN
Moderate Intensity / Material: Aluminum

Single pulse leads to very short melting
of the uppermost surface layer and
immediate „freezing“ of the amorphous/
microcristaline layer

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter


Oberflächenstruktur
CLEANING PRIOR TO COATING – AEROSPACE INDUSTRY
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SURFACE Activation without significant deep impact (only oxide removal and
surface micro-roughening)
Significant im proved wetability for coatings and Isolations

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SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter

Chromate free substitution (REACH /
Chromate)

Surface tension >56-72mN/m
Area rate up to 15m²/h
Improved shear strength
Extended open time before
bonding/coating (up to 7 days)


OXIDE REMOVAL FROM TITANIUM PRIOR TO ADHESIVE BONDING
APPLICATION EXAMPLE: LEADING EDGE

Titanium Panels half side cleanLASER treated

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Oxide removal and cleaning
Low impact to substrate
Replacement of chemical treatment or media blasting
Initial testing indicates excellent applicability

Typical application: Leading edge surface preparation in process
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Edwin Büchter

Cold treatment
(lab tests)

PREPARATION OF CFRP FOR PRODUCTION AND REPAIR
RESULTS OF AIRCRAFT RELATED PROJECT
Adhesive bonding Pre-treatment of CFRP
lead to High shear Strength
Applications:
• Repair
• Bonding in Production
• Clips / mounts Bonding
• Strength allow generally structural
bonding
• Several ongoing public funded R&D
Projects

F&E-PROJEKT PARTNER (Forschungseinrichtungen):
MoLab (TU-Braunschweig/IFS) / Plaser (Laser Zentrum Hannover) / IFAM / IWS

PLASER Projekt
gefördert durch
Kennziffer:
01QE0906

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter


DAMAGE FREE COMPOSITE MOLD CLEANING

Aluminium
Work piece after
100 treatments

(500 W) without
any dirt layer

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In use at several Aircraft makers!
AIRCRAFT APPROVED Technology
10 units in use already first since 2004
UPCOMING POTENTIAL in AUTOMOTIVE!
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Edwin Büchter

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Removal of process residuals
Economical cleaning of large
segments with a beam width of
up to 100mm and more
Sensitive structures of
aluminium, invar and steel will
not be damaged

Homogeneous cleaning results
Cleaning speed of more than 15
m²/hr (depending on layer
thickness and laser power)


GANTRY UNIT IN CO-OPERATION WITH OUR PARTNER

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Edwin Büchter

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IMPRESSIONS: COMPOSITE MOULD CLEANING
TURN KEY SOLUTION AND MARKET READY PRODUCTS AVAILABLE

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter


Cost analysis MOLD CLEANING: CO2 Ice Blasting vs. Laser Cleaning
criteria: 24/7 with 5000 h/a; 0,15 €/kWh; CO2: 0,30 €/kg; amortization 5 years without recovery value

cleanLASER

CO2-ice-blasting
€

TYPICAL INVESTMENT

COSTS:
Ice blasting machine incl.
pelletizer (Cold Jet)

110.000,00

Air compressor

125.000,00

CO2-tank

50.000,00

Noise protection and suction

10.000,00

TOTAL:

295.000,00 €

€

Laser CL500 with Laseroptic
(cleanLASER)

230.000,00

Suction

7.000,00

Safety curtains and googles

5.000,00

TOTAL:

242.000,00 €
€/hour

RUNNING COSTS:

€/hour

RUNNING COSTS:

INVESTMENT COSTS:

Energy: 6.2 kW

0,93

Energy: 130 kW

19,50

Maintenance: 5% of invest/a

1,60

CO2 consumption: 110 kg/h

33,00

Amortization

6,40

Maintenance: 5% of invest/a

2,00

Amortization

7,90
TOTAL:

62,40 €/h

SURFAIR Conference, June 5th 2014
Edwin Büchter

TOTAL:

8,93 €/h