Laser cleaning of the corrosion products on marine steels with spectroscopic control

The surface pretreatment of marine steel corroded by seawater is crucial procedure for the marine transportation and shipbuilding industry. This paper presents the laser cleaning of the corrosion products on marine steel using the pulsed fiber laser. The surface morphology as well as chemical composition of corrosion surface is compared with the cleaned surface. The Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technology is used to guide and control the laser cleaning process.