Laser Cleaning Optimization of Absorbing Coatings on the Surface of Aircraft Metal Structures

• Published in: Strength of materials 2023-09, Vol.55 (5), p.1017-1021
• Main Authors: Liu, H. D., Dai, J. T., Hu, Z. Y., Li, Y. H., Duan, Z. W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aircraft; Aircraft performance; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Cleaning; Coating effects; Coatings; Correlation; Damage; Fighter aircraft; Lasers; Materials Science; Process parameters; Pulse duration; Radar systems; Solid Mechanics; Stealth technology
• ISSN: 0039-2316; 1573-9325
• DOI: 10.1007/s11223-023-00592-7

Radar stealth was a remarkable technical feature of the fourth-generation fighter aircraft, the damage of the stealth coating would seriously affect the stealth performance of the aircraft. This paper focuses on the membrane treatment of coating in the process of stealth coating damage repair, the effect of laser cleaning process on the cleaning effect of stealth coating on the surface of aircraft metal construction was studied. The results show that laser pulse width has the greatest influence on the laser cleaning of stealth coating, so pulse width should be prioritized when selecting the process parameters. And during the process experiment, the relationship between the effect of laser cleaning and process parameters were respectively negative correlation with scanning speed, positive correlated first and then weakly correlation with laser power, weakly correlated first and then positive correlation with pulse width, positive correlation with scan number. Finally, the optimal laser cleaning process parameters for the stealth coating of 500 μm on the surface of the metal structures were obtained by comparing the experiments between the preferred and the solution groups.