Laserhardening

Precise partial hardening with minimal distortion

In laser hardening, the surface of a hardenable workpiece is selectively heated with a focused laser beam. Only the desired area of the component is brought to the temperature required for hardening, while the rest of the workpiece remains largely unaffected. This makes the process particularly suitable for the partial hardening of functional surfaces, wear areas, and geometrically demanding components.

After local heating, the heat is quickly dissipated into the cooler interior of the component. This so-called self-quenching leads to the formation of martensite in suitable steels – a particularly hard microstructural phase. In this way, a narrow, precisely definable hardened track is created, with high surface hardness and good wear resistance.

A key advantage of laser hardening is the highly precise energy input. Since only the areas that actually require hardening are heated, the heat input into the component remains low. As a result, the process causes very little distortion and is ideal for components that have already been finish-machined or where tight dimensional and geometric tolerances must be maintained.

Thanks to the flexible guidance of the laser beam, even complex contours, narrow surfaces, or hard-to-reach areas can be selectively hardened. Additional quenching media are generally not required, as cooling takes place through the component itself.

Typical applications for laser hardening include cutting edges, bearing seats, guide rails, tools, gears, and other highly stressed functional surfaces. Wherever high surface hardness, precise processing, and minimal distortion are required, laser hardening offers an economical and technically advanced solution.

Advantages of laser hardening

• Partial hardening of precisely defined areas
• High surface hardness and improved wear resistance
• Low heat input and minimal distortion
• Ideal for finish-machined components
• Precise processing of complex geometries
• No additional quenching media required
• Well suited for automated and reproducible processes