We Guarantee the Safety of Anilox Roll Laser Cleaning
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Zecher GmbH Research into the Safety of Anilox Roll Laser Cleaning
In summer 2015, we first demonstrated our laser cleaning technology to Zecher GmbH. We cleaned high-line-count rolls above 400 lpcm. Zecher GmbH specialists examined the ceramic coating before and after cleaning with an electron microscope. After evaluating several cleaning technologies available in Europe, the company selected our technology in spring 2016.
“As a leading manufacturer of anilox rolls for inks and coatings, we naturally take a strong interest in anilox maintenance and cleaning. Our specialists understand the full range of production applications and the contamination caused by different inks and coatings. It is therefore important for us to help customers select an effective cleaning technology. Until recently, we primarily used chemical and ultrasonic cleaning. Some demanding cleaning tasks could not always be completed satisfactorily with the methods available to us, so we evaluated new technologies. Over a two-year period, we tested several laser cleaning systems. We selected LaserEcoClean because both the cleaning results and process safety convinced us. A LaserEcoClean system was installed at our production facility in September 2016, and the initial results fully met our high standards.”
Rüdiger Wand, Technical Director at Zecher GmbH-
LaserEcoClean Research into Laser Cleaning Safety
The circle marks the area of a cell wall examined after 40 cleaning cycles.
Before launching our technology, we evaluated the effect of laser radiation on the roll’s ceramic coating. In 2010, we cleaned the same anilox roll more than 40 times using LaserEcoClean technology. The photographs below show the cells before the first cleaning cycle and after 40 cycles. They demonstrate that the laser did not damage the roll surface: cracks and cavities measuring 1–10 µm retained their original shape and configuration. This is achieved through correctly selected laser parameters. Eleven years later, we ran another test series in which the same roll was cleaned more than 60 times. Read our technical article.
Before cleaning
After 5 cleaning cycles
After 10 cleaning cycles
After 40 cleaning cycles