21st century aircraft depainting strategies

Current chemical paint strippers for aircraft contain toxic and hazardous components and depainting operations are a major source of hazardous waste generation in the DOD. Federal and state agencies have begun to restrict the use of these hazardous materials and Government directives require significant reductions in hazardous waste generation. The Naval Air Systems Team (Laboratories, Depots and Headquarters) has teamed with the Air Force at Warner Robins Air Logistics Command in investigating advanced paint removal technologies and has taken a multi-process approach to meeting the requirements of aircraft and component stripping at various levels of maintenance. This paper describes the results of development and application of current and emerging technologies which can be used safely on aircraft metallic or composite surfaces.