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LASER CLEANING FOR CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION PROJECTS: TECHNOLOGY & SYSTEMS

The application of lasers in conservation and restoration is increasing because of the use of laser cleaning systems as they are portable, effective, and flexible. Laser systems are already being used for cleaning, consolidation and imaging applications. Laser cleaning is gaining more traction in art restoration and conservation as it can successfully remove black sulfation from marble and limestone, tarnish from silver threads in textiles, over paints from monochromatic upholstery, fungi from leather and vellum, calcareous deposits from pottery and lead, corrosion from bronze, encrustations from stained glass, slaked lime from frescoes and graffiti from concrete.

ASP pictures of our system in action at Arts Court revamp in Ottawa, 36M $Cdn project according to CBC

The popularity of laser cleaning in art restoration and conservation can be attributed to the fact that surface encrustation is removed with minimal damage to the underlying material. Thus, laser cleaning is often more effective than traditional cleaning methods based on chemical or mechanical action. Conventional techniques involve particle/air abrasion techniques or chemical techniques. Particle/air abrasion techniques pose environmental hazards to the person operating it and introduce changes in the surface of the material being cleaned. Chemical techniques involve similar difficulties and also pose problems because of the chemicals involved in the long term. Thus, the use of laser cleaning is continuously increasing in art restoration and conservation as it is a selective process that can be tuned for the removal of specific substances; versatile most materials can be removed by proper selection of operating conditions; and controllable a specific thickness of material can be removed down to nanometer thick of material.

Parliament of Canada: Before and after laser cleaning

A few American and European players have been involved in the marketplace, but no companies owns the market yet in the cleaning segment. The market shares will mostly be taken from companies using the old time cleaning methods mentioned above.

Source : Laser Cleaning Market - Global Forecast to 2023, Markets and Markets, December 2017

Our Midwest dealers, HDE Pipe Transfer and Mechanical, LLP had the pleasure of demonstrating the LaserArt Cleaning System in Philadelphia. The demonstration was done on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge with the goal to restore the stone to its original appearance.

The LaserArt Cleaning System out performed the competition (Dryice). As you can see by the images above, the LaserArt effectively and quickly ablated the material on the stone, bringing it back to its original appearance.

We are still awaiting third party feedback on this demonstration which will be uploaded as soon as we receive it.

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One of our laser cleaning specialists will be glad to assist you further.