The aviation industry is searching for automatable and reproducible ways to clean the surface of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CRFP) before applying a protective lacquer or adhesives for bonding processes. Now, Fraunhofer IFAM has developed a process based on an excimer laser to clean CFRP surfaces in an in-line compatible manner. In combination with a robotic arm this enables also the treatment of 3D parts with accessible surface geometries.
Surface cleaning is necessary because the agents used to release the CFRP part from the mould leave a residue on the component surface. This residue can inhibit subsequently applied coating or bonding materials to adhere properly. Today, CFRP parts are typically cleaned with mechanical processes in combination with organic solvents, depending on size and geometry often also in a manual way. The mechanical treatment and cleaning with a solvent exhibit a worker depending reproducibility, which may effect the material, and is critical in terms of worker safety.
Fraunhofer IFAM has now shown that an excimer laser in combination with a robotic arm can be used for the effective cleaning of CFRP parts, even at high process rates, thereby enabling a touchless and damage-free surface treatment. Currently the process is applied in such a way, that the part is moved by robot. For future applications it can also be envisioned to mount the laser on the robot to enable the treatment of large parts like the wings and fuselage of an aircraft. [ Ссылка ]
This work has been performed within the research project Trump LuFo V-3 (20W1721C) supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) through the German Aerospace Center DLR based on a decision taken by the German Bundestag.
