Mechanism of paint removal by nanosecond pulsed laser plasma shock: simulation and experiment

Abstract

This paper establishes a new theoretical paint removal model of plasma shock based on Fabbro’s model and Newton’s second law. A two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element model is established to calculate the theoretical model. By comparing the theoretical and experimental results, it is found that the theoretical model can accurately predict the threshold of laser paint removal. It is indicated that plasma shock is an essential mechanism in laser paint removal. The threshold for laser paint removal is approximately 1.73J/cm2. The experiments show that, with the increase of the laser fluence, the effect of laser paint removal first increases and then decreases. With the increase of the laser fluence, the paint removal effect is improved due to the increase of the paint removal mechanism. The competition between the plastic fracture and pyrolysis leads to a reduction in paint effectiveness. In summary, this study can provide a theoretical reference for studying the paint removal mechanism of plasma shock.