The objective of this Small Business Innovative Research project is to investigate and develop the capability for the selective depainting of Navy aircraft and the cleaning of precision instruments and equipment using semiconductor diode laser technology. This will be accomplished by first demonstrating in a laboratory environment, performing materials testing and cost analysis, and then designing a and testing a scale system for rapid depainting and cleaning of aircraft surfaces and components. It has been demonstrated that diode lasers offer the ability to selectively strip and clean coatings and soils in an efficient and cost-effective manner over other types of lasers and methods.
