LASER SURFACE TREATMENT OF GRANITE STONES

摘要

Granite stones have been used from immemorial times as structural element for the public works or for the construction of every kind of buildings. At present, granite stones are been used widely for the covering of facades and also as paving and flooring elements, being the polished the most commonly used surface finish type. Due to several reasons, last years have seen a dramatic increment in the demand of granite plates having a surface finish rougher, more "rustic". In this paper we present the results of an exploratory study on the capabilities of the high power diode laser to treat the surface of granite plates. The results allow to affirm that the laser presents several advantages in comparison to the conventional mechanical method: there are no mechanical stresses induced in the granite plate, reduction of powder and practically complete deletion of noise.