ABSTRACT
The aim of this work is to present a preliminary study in the field of laser cleaning of painted and gilded heritage objects. A novelty of this attempt consists in the new type of laser and its parameters, which were not yet reported extensively in the literature. The equipment applied to this work was based on RedEnergy G4 EP-Z Pulsed Fibre Laser (SPI Lasers, UK) which is characterized by an emission wavelength of 1060 nm, average power of 100 W and a very high pulse repetition frequency (1 kHz – 4 MHz), with pulse time adjustable in the range of 4 ns – 2 µs and a very small spot diameter of ca 200 μm. As examples of implementation of such laser in conservation of polychrome and gilded works of art were not satisfactorily reported, there was a need to perform a series of basic tests and trials that led us to defining a safe range of parameters for certain materials and painting supports. Dedicated software for fluence estimation was created, enabling comparison with the experimental conditions reported in the literature.
