Metal decontamination by high repetition rate nanosecond fiber laser: Application to oxidized and Eu-contaminated stainless steel

[Display omitted] •We study laser ablation of Eu-contaminated AISI 304L stainless steel.•We use GD-MS to assess the cleaning efficiency of the method.•Our results indicate satisfactory decontamination of up to 97%.•We identify the contamination-penetration mechanism as due to thermal effects.•Our fi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied surface science 2020-10, Vol.526, p.146654, Article 146654
Main Authors: Carvalho, L., Pacquentin, W., Tabarant, M., Semerok, A., Maskrot, H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Decontamination
Eu in-diffusion
Laser ablation
Laser cleaning
Oxide layer
Physics
Residual contamination
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Summary:[Display omitted] •We study laser ablation of Eu-contaminated AISI 304L stainless steel.•We use GD-MS to assess the cleaning efficiency of the method.•Our results indicate satisfactory decontamination of up to 97%.•We identify the contamination-penetration mechanism as due to thermal effects.•Our findings can contribute to laser-based decontamination of metallic surfaces. The decommissioning of metallic equipment (pipes, lane surfaces, etc.) contaminated in nuclear installations can consign large amounts of waste to storage and risk workers to radioactive exposure. Here, we study metallic-surface decontamination by laser ablation, which involves ejection and subsequent trapping of surface contamination by subjecting the surface to high-energy laser pulses. We perform laser ablation on oxidized AISI 304L stainless steel samples impregnated with non-radioactive Eu using a high repetition rate nanosecond fiber laser. The oxide layers are with a mean weight percentage of 0.1 to 2% of Eu in the volume of the oxide layer. Glow discharge mass spectrometry (GDMS) is performed to assess the cleaning-treatment efficiency and study the distribution of residual contamination with a Eu-detection limit of 100 ng/g. Our results indicate satisfactory decontamination of up to 97%. We also study the limiting factors and identify the mechanism of penetration of contaminants as induced by thermal effects. Moreover, to understand the ablation mechanism and from the perspective of industrial applications, we analyze the ablated matter to obtain the particle chemical composition and size distributions.
ISSN:0169-4332
1873-5584
DOI:10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.146654