Laser surface melt-hardening has recently been successfully introduced into industry to improve the wear resistance of different parts made from gray and nodular irons. A characteristics of this procedure is rapid heating of a thin surface layer of the workpiece material above the melting point temperature. After the completion of heat treatment, a structure-modified surface layer is obtained consisting of theremelted and hardened layer. Experimental results of the study of laser surface melt-hardening process have confirmed that the procedure is suitable also for low-power CO_2 laser sources to increase the depth of the modified layer. Because of remarkable repeatability of the characteristics of the modified layer, it is possible to optimize the process on the basis of experimental data.
展开▼
