The objective of this SBIR is to investigate and develop a portable laser decoating system that has the capability to remove coatings used in the construction of Navy ships. Corrosion control is a major issue in new ship construction as well as in ship repair where significant amount of time is spent in applying and removing paint from the interior of ships for spot decoating. This includes the regular removal of a significant amount of preconstruction primer, and interior epoxy coatings. The present methods of abrasive blasting generates additional waste but more significant is that entire spaces must be masked off for blasting not allowing other trades to operate in or around the space until the operation is completed. A portable, high power, diode laser would be capable of allowing the surface finishing trades to spend minimal time in a space spot decoating, allowing the other trades to start sooner, thus avoiding costly delays in construction. Diode laser decoating has been proven to efficiently remove new coatings such as powder coats being used in shipbuilding, as well as being able to efficiently remove coatings from PCMS, composite, fiberglass, and other "soft" substrates controlled and providing repeatable first time quality. Benefits The steps to successful commercialization of this technology are to evaluate and demonstrate the successful application of the technology to a specific area, i.e. shipbuilding/repair, perform the qualification testing, obtain approval, publish and market the results, design and build, and then produce systems. This Phase I project will entail the first steps required for commercial approval, developing a preliminary design and cost analysis, which are critical to implementing the technology. Once the initial steps are performed and passed, Phase II will entail completing the approval process testing, obtaining the formal OEM approvals, establishing environmental technology requirements with the Navy, finalizing the system design, and then producing the prototype and production units. A high power portable laser decoating system would have great demand in the industrial sector, both commercial and government. Being high power, above 1 kilowatt, makes the stripping rates competitive with abrasive blasting, and thus opens the market to the steel structure paint removal industry as well as commercial paint removal, especially lead paint, and as well as shipyards throughout the world. A system like this would have the inherent advantage of being environmentally friendly, having only to deal with a minimal amount of waste, thus avoiding a significant cost to shipbuilding. This technology is also capable of stripping advanced materials such as composites, and can be used on future ships being proposed that will employ more composite technology in construction. Keywords laser, ablation, diode, high-energy, stripping, maintenance, semiconductor, portable
