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<p>Underwater laser cleaning has emerged a promising approach for marine infrastructure maintenance; however, the underlying material removal mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. In this study, nanosecond pulsed laser cleaning (1064 nm, 100 ns, and 20 kHz) of a biofouling layer on stainless steel submerged in seawater was investigated through a combined finite element model and experimental approach. The simulation results showed that the transient temperature rise remained localized near the surface, reaching a peak temperature of 594.47 K at a fluence of 0.07 J/cm<sup>2</sup> within the biofouling layer. The computed near-surface thermoelastic stress of 1.33&#xa0;MPa substantially exceeded the reported adhesion strength of soft marine biofouling (5–200&#xa0;kPa). Experimental validation using FTIR, SEM, and AFM was used for surface characterization. The findings indicate an effective removal of biofouling within a low fluence of 0.04–0.06&#xa0;J/cm<sup>2</sup>, achieving near-complete cleaning with improved surface smoothness (Ra<InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\:\sim\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>127<InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\:\pm\:1.4\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation> nm). On the other hand, at higher fluence, the surface roughness increased, and fine micro-cracks developed, which indicates the beginning of thermomechanical surface modification. These results indicate that thermoelastic stress is the dominant removal mechanism under low fluence conditions and provide quantitative parameters for underwater laser cleaning processes. The observed trending in morphology introduces a quality-based parameter that can be used in the selection of underwater laser cleaning parameters to achieve efficient fouling removal without substrate damage.</p>

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Thermomechanical mechanisms and processing window of underwater nanosecond laser cleaning of marine biofouling on 316 stainless steel

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月11日

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  • Asha Juma Mohamed,
  • Weihong Bi,
  • Yi Jiang,
  • Abdul Qadir,
  • Zhenyuan Zhang

摘要

Underwater laser cleaning has emerged a promising approach for marine infrastructure maintenance; however, the underlying material removal mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. In this study, nanosecond pulsed laser cleaning (1064 nm, 100 ns, and 20 kHz) of a biofouling layer on stainless steel submerged in seawater was investigated through a combined finite element model and experimental approach. The simulation results showed that the transient temperature rise remained localized near the surface, reaching a peak temperature of 594.47 K at a fluence of 0.07 J/cm2 within the biofouling layer. The computed near-surface thermoelastic stress of 1.33 MPa substantially exceeded the reported adhesion strength of soft marine biofouling (5–200 kPa). Experimental validation using FTIR, SEM, and AFM was used for surface characterization. The findings indicate an effective removal of biofouling within a low fluence of 0.04–0.06 J/cm2, achieving near-complete cleaning with improved surface smoothness (Ra \(\:\sim\) 127 \(\:\pm\:1.4\) nm). On the other hand, at higher fluence, the surface roughness increased, and fine micro-cracks developed, which indicates the beginning of thermomechanical surface modification. These results indicate that thermoelastic stress is the dominant removal mechanism under low fluence conditions and provide quantitative parameters for underwater laser cleaning processes. The observed trending in morphology introduces a quality-based parameter that can be used in the selection of underwater laser cleaning parameters to achieve efficient fouling removal without substrate damage.