BREMERTON, Wash. –
Using lasers to remove coatings and corrosion from U.S. naval vessels may soon become a reality based on recent testing conducted by Shop 71, Painters, Blasters, Tilesetters, at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility.
Laser ablation, which is widely used in the commercial automotive and aerospace industries, is proving to be easy to perform, while being cleaner, quieter and reducing the amount of vibration mechanics are exposed to versus legacy methods.
According to Jeff Wood, process improvement manager, Shop 71, commercial-off-the-shelf laser ablation tools have certain advantages over methods such as needle guns, wire wheels, scraping, sanding, power sanding, chemical paint strippers and abrasive blasting. Noise reduction is one major advantage of using a laser ablation tool versus using a needle gun.
“Based on the levels we were seeing in our recent test, hearing protection was required within five feet of the laser operation, compared to 95 feet for the needle gun operation,” said Wood. “The reduction in noise levels may help reduce noise exposure and the risk of hearing loss for our people.”
Wood said vibration reduction and debris reduction were also important factors discovered during testing.
“There is practically no vibration felt by the operator when performing laser ablation work,” he said. “Needle gunning often requires employees to wear anti-vibration gloves and even then, employees still need to regularly stop and stretch out their hands due to the vibration from the tools.”
“Laser ablation is also very clean,” he continued. “Unlike other processes that create dust and debris, the laser vaporizes the coating or corrosion, and a fume extractor mounted to the unit ensures the byproduct is not spread around the work area.”
The recent round of testing is part of a longstanding effort to determine if laser ablation is a viable solution for work on U.S. Navy vessels. Shop 71 first performed laser ablation on USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) in 2019. They conducted more testing on USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) a couple of years later.
“Since then, we have committed to procuring several laser units and are working through creating a dedicated laser booth for our inside shop work,” Wood said. “Scott Castro (Code 368 zone manager), Brandon Talley (Shop 71 painter general foreman), Shane Eddy (Shop 71 nuclear general foreman), and I have continued to research the implementation of this technology.”
According to Wood, Ladante Taylor, supervisor, Shop 71; Shop 71 mechanics Myles Crawford, Chase Absher, Elizabeth Adapon, Michael Aguada and Shaun Gazay; along with Drew Wheeler, nuclear engineer, Code 2310.2, Reactor Engineering Division; Mark Davidson, engineering technician (Naval Architecture), Code 250; Franz Magallanes, Laser Safety Officer Code 106, Environment, Safety and Health Programs; Ken Hill, zone manager, Ronald Reagan Project; as well as with Nick Bankus and Max Larsen, both mechanical engineers with Naval Undersea Warfare Center-Keyport, were all instrumental in the planning and execution of the testing aboard Reagan.
Wood said other public shipyards, warfare centers, and Trident Refit Facilities are already working on implementing this technology as well.
“NAVSEA is committed to helping us with this effort,” he said. “They have purchased laser ablation units for the other shipyards and Trident Refit Facilities. Deniz Ferrin at NAVSEA04XT leads the Corrosion Control and Repair Technology Focus Team. We use this group as a medium to share information, ideas, plans for laser ablation and use cases. The team is full of people committed to improving the way we perform corrosion control on Navy ships.”
Wood said the potential for laser ablation to save time, money, and wear and tear on people and naval vessels makes pursuing it worthwhile.
“Using this technology on areas where the use of power tools is not authorized — think pad eye inspections and certain pipe inspections — or coating removals on certain cast metal parts would be a good start,” he said. “Another good use for this technology is on parts or systems with foreign material exclusion installed, and on more delicate materials such as fiberglass, where we currently hand sand or abrasive blast with plastic media. We can use laser ablation around those riskier areas and abrasive blast the remaining areas, reducing the risk of introducing blast grit into a system.”
Wood said laser ablation isn’t a total replacement for all of the tools and processes Shop 71 currently uses. If it turns out to not be the best tool for certain jobs, legacy methods and tools can still be used.
“This is an emerging technology that will get better and better as time goes on,” he said. “There may be roadblocks and hurdles that seem daunting at the moment, but as we spend more time getting familiar with it, we will streamline the process and really figure out where it shines. We have plans to conduct more research and tests with this equipment in the meantime.”
Wood said it is encouraging to see the support from the highest levels of leadership at PSNS & IMF, and NAVSEA. This allows large groups of problem solvers to collaborate to figure out solutions for any obstacle they run into.
“It is also nice to see project management getting involved,” he said. “Collaboration across the enterprise is helping get funding, resolution to problems, and real-world experience with the technology. There are a lot of people smarter than me making this all possible.”