Laser cleaning of the contaminations on the surface of tire mould

Abstract

During the manufacturing of tires, surface pollutants on tire mould will lead to the production of unqualified tires. Tire moulds need to be regularly cleaned. Laser cleaning is recognized as a non-destructive, effective, precise and environmental friendly method. In this paper, laser cleaning was used to remove contaminants on tire mould surface. First, laser induced damage experiments were performed. The results showed that the roughness and hardness of the cast steel sample surface seldom changed under the energy range of 140.1–580.2 mJ laser irradiation 1 pulse and the energy range of 44.7–168.9 mJ laser irradiation 100 pulses. In the laser cleaning experiments, the cleaning thresholds and the optimal cleaning parameters were obtained. Results indicated that laser cleaning was safe and effective for tire mould contamination removal.

Research Progress and Challenges in Laser-Controlled Cleaning of Aluminum Alloy Surfaces

“…A. L. Schawlow invented laser cleaning in 1965 by using a ruby-pulsed laser to remove black pigments from paper in a targeted manner [ 23 ]. Since then, the laser-controlled cleaning technology has been applied to a variety of cleaning tasks, including the cleaning of artworks [ 24 ], artifacts [ 25 ], and glass surfaces [ 26 ], the removal of radionuclides [ 27 ], the decarburization of tire-abrasive surfaces [ 28 ], the removal of rust from carbon steel or stainless steel surfaces [ 29 , 30 ], and the removal of oxide films and paint layers from aluminum alloy surfaces [ 31 , 32 ].…”

Numerical Analysis and Experimental Study of the Laser Cleaning of Ceramic Insulator Contamination

“…Simulation and experimental methods have been used to verify that the laser cleaning method is effective and that there are no adverse impacts on stone cultural relics [22], [23]. In [24]- [26], laser cleaning was applied to various fields, such as mould cleaning, rust removal and insulator room temperature vulcanized (RTV) coating cleaning. However, there are few reports on the application of laser cleaning of insulator contamination in power systems.…”

Cleaning of Graphite Particles Embedded in the Surface of Ductile Iron by Using a Novel Method

“…Chemical etching [7] is not suitable for the removal of graphite particles due to their chemical stability. Recently, laser cleaning technique has been developed as a novel method to remove surface contaminants [8][9][10][11]. Comparing with traditional surface treatment techniques, laser cleaning is environmentally friendly for direct removal of contaminants without altering or affecting properties of matrix.…”