In laser heat treating, energy is transmitted to the materials' surface in order to heat it in a closely controlled way to between 900°C & 1300 °C to create a hardened layer by metallurgical transformation. The laser is used as a heat source, and rapidly raises the surface temperature of a small part of the material. Heat sinking of the surrounding more massive area provides rapid self-quenching, thus producing a hardened transformation layer. No Oil or water is therefore required for quenching.
This makes Laser hardening cleaner and more readily mobilised than traditional heat treatments.
![Laser hardening metal](/images/banner/laser-transformation-hardening.jpg)
Any ferrous metal (steel or cast iron) which would normally be hardened by more traditional methods like flame or induction hardening, can be hardened with a laser. Laser hardening is more versatile than flame hardening or induction hardening.
Reliable and Repeatable
Laser hardening provides reliable, repeatable, non-contact and energy-efficient heat in a minimal
amount of time. For hardening, laser beam provides the necessary control and accuracy to
focus the heat to a specific area of the part. The laser is suitable for the integration in already
existing manufacturing equipment’s and production lines.
Apart from the traditional hardening process, laser hardening offers a range of applications for tasks which couldn’t be solved hitherto optimally for example for components with special forms and special functional surfaces (survey of the hardening tracks):
- Selective hardening of single work piece surfaces. Here a selective hard surface arises with
a tough center and uninfluenced areas in the direct neighborhood.
- Hardening tracks at cutting edges, guide tracks, grooves and free mould surfaces with
continuous crossing geometry
- Good hardenability of surfaces which are difficult to reach such as craned grooves, flutes
and interior surfaces
- Dot hardening at naps and in blind holes
- Hardenability of thin, warp-prone parts by a selective, quick heat input at an extremely short
dwell time.
See the AL-ROCK - the world’s first mobile robot for targeted laser hardening of metal surfaces.