Laser fluence, repetition rate and pulse duration effects on paint ablation

Abstract The efficiency (mm3/(J pulse)) of laser ablation of paint was investigated with nanosecond pulsed Nd:YAG lasers (λ = 532 nm) as a function of the following laser beam parameters: pulse repetition rate (1–10,000 Hz), laser fluence (0.1–5 J/cm2) and pulse duration (5 ns and 100 ns). In our study, the best ablation efficiency (η ≅ 0.3 mm3/J) was obtained with the highest repetition rate (10 kHz) at the fluence F = 1.5 J/cm2. This ablation efficiency can be associated with heat accumulation at high repetition rate, which leads to the ablation threshold decrease. Despite the low thermal diffusivity and the low optical absorption of the paint (thermal confinement regime), the ablation th…