NSF Award
9710967
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project addresses an innovative method for safely removing lead-based paints from structural materials. Removal of paint from structures is a national problem, affecting hundreds of thousands of structures. More than half the nation's 208,505 steel bridges carrying public roads require immediate repairs totaling more than $5 billion. This represents about 5 billion square feet of surface area from which lead-based paint should be removed. In Phase I, a theoretical evaluation of a process to rapidly remove thin layers of coatings through a repetitive vaporization process with pulsed plasma was conducted and successfully demonstrated in a single-shot mode. The Phase II research objective is to build and test a complete engineering prototype and conduct a small-scale field demonstration. Phase II research will determine the optimal operating parameters of the prototype. The anticipated result is a successful field demonstration on several girders of a bridge in Virginia. The potential commercial applications for this technology is large, and includes paint removal from bridges, residential and industrial structures, ships, railroad cars, tank farms, and vehicles of all types. This technology is directly applicable to the removal of other kinds of surface coatings (besides paints). Of special interest is the experimentally demonstrated ability to remove top coats of paint without damaging or removing the primer or undercoat. This will have applications for the commercial aircraft industry. Á >Á?¥ ?Á>¥??`
