Laserhardening

In laser hardening, the surface of a workpiece is selectively and very rapidly heated using a focused laser beam. Within fractions of a second, the material reaches almost its melting temperature before the heat is conducted away into the interior of the component. This rapid cooling leads to the formation of martensite – a particularly hard microstructure. In this way, a narrow, precisely defined hardened track is created without deforming the workpiece. As a result, laser hardening produces very little distortion and is ideal for components that are already finish-machined or located in hard-to-access areas. The technology allows very precise adaptation to complex geometries and can be carried out both with and without shielding gas. Typical applications include cutting edges, bearing seats or guide rails where high surface hardness is required without additional quenching media.