Process study of nanosecond pulsed laser cleaning of grease contamination on sluice wire rope surfaces

Abstract

Wire ropes, as the primary load-bearing components of winch-type sluice gates, require regular maintenance to ensure proper functioning. Traditional cleaning methods for wire ropes often face some issues such as low cleaning efficiency and the risk of damaging the materials matrix the ropes. In order to address these issues of traditional cleaning methods, this paper proposed a cleaning method by employing a nanosecond pulsed fiber laser for the removal of hardened grease from the surface of wire ropes used in sluice gates. The effects of laser power, pulse width, spot overlap rate, and number of cleaning times on the grease removal effect and the degree of damage to the wire rope substrate were investigated by designing single-factor controlled variables and multifactorial orthogonal experiments. The experiment results of effectiveness of grease cleaning were quantified by using the chroma value of a grayscale image, and the degree of damage to the wire rope substrate was presented by using a scanning electron microscope and energy spectrometer to scan the rope surface before and after laser cleaning. The experimental results reveal that optimal grease removal occurs under the following conditions: laser power of 55 W, pulse width of 200 ns, spot overlap rate of 55 %, and two laser cleaning passes, which the integrity of the galvanized layer on the substrate was preserved and minimizing potential damage to the material.