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Dedicated to the
Science of Motion
AH1215A-LPM
Precision Additive Manufacturing
3D Motion Control Subsystem and Component Solutions
Control Systems
• Advanced control capabilities for
coordinated motion
• Innovative features for minimizing
dynamic tracking errors
• Velocity profiling maintains a constant
vector velocity over complex profiles for
total material distributing control
• Powerful, user-friendly controllers
and drives to enhance your complete
process
Mechanical Systems
• 3D motion down to nanometer-level
performance
• Full line of linear and rotary stages
in both mechanical-bearing and air-
bearing versions
• Component-level solutions for cost
effective, reliable motion
• Integrated subsystems and turnkey
machines customized to exact
specifications
Subsystems with six
degrees of freedom
Aerotech motion products are currently
used in a variety of additive manufacturing
applications.
A 3D printed structure
produced using an
Aerotech motion system.
Photo provided by
Professor Jennifer A. Lewis,
Harvard University
*Required much slower scan speed...overheating
6543210
Efciency (ft
2
*mils/ kW*min.)
Laser paint stripping efciencies
Q-switch ber laser on white
CW ber laser on white*
CO
2
laser on white
CO
2
laser on gray
Fiber laser on gray
6 Industrial Laser Solutions SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 www.industrial-lasers.com
application report
sweeping a continuous
laser beam across the
painted surface. In either
case, the top layer of
paint is heated and then
vaporizes, followed by
immediate combustion
as it leaves the surface
and encounters oxy-
gen in the air. The heat
of combustion in laser
paint stripping can be
many times higher than
the laser energy depos-
ited to the surface, and
efficient removal of
this heated effluent is
essential for process efficiency and work-
place safety.
All paints do not absorb laser energy
the same way, and all laser wavelengths
are not absorbed the same way by
paints. FIGURE 1 shows the two means
by which laser energy (1µm from sol-
id-state lasers vs. 10.6µm from CO
2
lasers) is absorbed by paints. If the paint
is comprised of transparent resin with a
dark pigment, like typical military gray
paint, then a 1µm beam can be deliv-
ered into the depth of the painted sur-
face and absorbed along the way by the
dark pigment. This process can be very
efficient. However, if the paint is white,
the pigment is highly scattering to the
1µm beam, and the process is essentially
prevented from operating. On the other
hand, a CO
2
laser beam can successfully
remove any color of paint since the laser
energy is absorbed at the outermost sur-
face and does not transmit through the
thickness. This ability of CO
2
laser paint
stripping becomes additionally important
if removal of primer is required—a func-
tion that is quite difficult for the shorter
wavelength to accomplish.
The efficiency of laser paint stripping
performance is measured as Volume
of Paint Removed/Energy Delivered for
Removal, and the specific units (as initiated
by the Air Force many decades ago) are:
Ft
2*
mils / kW
*
min (where mils are thou-
sandths of an inch)
This metric (along with actual laser
power) is extremely important in under-
standing productivity, thermal loading
on the aircraft, and overall process cost.
Values for this metric on different paints
with different lasers are shown in FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 2. Paint stripping efficiencies with different lasers
and different paints.
1609ils_6 6 9/2/16 2:07 PM