Method and apparatus for stripping an oxide layer from a metal product

An apparatus for laser stripping of a running metal product presenting on its surface an oxide layer by means of at least one stripping laser, the apparatus comprising:

• a determination assembly configured to determine, on each of a plurality of successive sections of the running metal product, an oxide layer removal energy density threshold, corresponding to a minimum energy density necessary for removal of the oxide layer on the section under consideration, the determination assembly comprising:
• a transmission system comprising a laser source, the transmission system being configured to transmit, on a segment of said section under consideration, the analysis laser pulses of wavelength and pulse duration equal to those of the stripping laser(s), to form, within said segment, a stripped region devoid of the oxide layer,
• an image acquisition system configured to acquire an image of the segment impacted by the analysis laser pulses, during running of the product,
• a treatment system configured to determine, from each image acquired by the image acquisition system, a dimension representative of the stripped region and to evaluate, from said representative dimension and information relating to the energy profile of the analysis laser pulses, the oxide layer removal energy density threshold,
• an apparatus for laser stripping comprising at least one stripping laser configured to transmit the stripping laser pulses on each of the plurality of successive sections of the running metal product to strip the running metal product, and a control unit configured to receive the oxide layer removal energy density threshold for that section and to control transmission, by the stripping laser(s), of laser pulses of energy higher than the oxide layer removal energy density threshold, in such a way that each point of the section under consideration is exposed for at least one instant to an energy density higher than the oxide removal energy density threshold.