LASER HARDENING
After the desired temperature is obtained, the laser travels a pre-determined path along the component.
As the laser travels, the base material acts as a heat sink, quickly quenching the heated surface. The quick cooling provides a very fine martensitic grain structure, creating a superior localized heat treatment.
Advantages
With laser precision and robotic control, laser hardening can be applied to complex surfaces while achieving repeatable hardness and case depth.
The surface finish after laser hardening is excellent and, in some cases, requires no finishing work.
The process is used exclusively on ferrous materials containing a minimum of 0.20 percent carbon.
Benefits
Hardening of selected regions with pinpoint accuracy
Very fast and efficient
Depending on carbon/alloy content, some steels can be hardened to more than 62 HRC
Automated temperature control for consistent case depth and hardness
Minimal, if any, part distortion
Improves wear characteristics without changing the part dimensionally
Applications
Locating pins
Hoist drum grooves
Metal forming dies
Gear teeth
Cam channels
Crane wheels
Down-hole drilling components
Plastic injection tooling parting lines
Metal and fabric trim dies
Core box blow tube abrasion