Laser Hardening

Power lasers offer rapid, high-quality and reproducible heat treatment methods. Laser surface hardening consists of the rapid heating of a material’s surface by laser beam, a short hold at the target temperature, and intensive cooling due to the high thermal conductivity of the material.

At MATEX PM, laser hardening is carried out using a 3.5 kW CW fibre diode laser mounted on an industrial KUKA KR-16 robot.

Its ability to perform local hardening restricted to a prescribed location is a significant advantage of laser hardening. Hardening depth and the resulting hardness can be controlled as well. On-line control of temperature is available thanks to a pyrometer built intothe optical system. We deliver our contracts within short periods. On agreement, we can perform the job while the customer waits. This can be achieved by programming the robot off-line, based on the client’s drawings.

Advantages:

• Local hardening restricted to the prescribed location
• Excellent quality, speed and stability
• Reduced heat effect on surrounding material
• Minimal distortion
• No surface cracking
• Low surface oxidation
• Quality inspection in our own laboratory

Typical applications include local hardening of moulds, tools, gear wheels and gear racks, slide ways, parts of transmissions, shafts, cams and turbine vanes.