Product Code: ICA10_1702

Local Laser Heat Treatment of Stainless Steel at Very High Speed
Authors:
Steffen Bonss, Fraunhofer IWS; Dresden Germany
Jan Hannweber, Fraunhofer Iws; Dresden Germany
Udo Karsunke, Fraunhofer Iws; Dresden Germany
Stefan Kuehn, Fraunhofer Iws; Dresden Germany
Marko Seifert, Fraunhofer Iws; Dresden Germany
Eckhard Beyer, TU Dresden, Institute fuer Oberflaechen-und Fertigungstechnik Lot; Dresden Germany
Presented at ICALEO 2010

Laser beam heat treatment has been established during the last years as a complementary technology for local hardening treatment tasks at tool manufacturing and automotive industry. Especially new high power diode lasers and a lot of process supporting systems, what have been developed in recent years, are responsible for the increase of industrial laser hardening applications. But heat treatment is more than hardening. Even local softening in some cases is necessary to improve formability at a specific area of a part while the mechanical properties of the remaining part are kept untouched. The presentation gives examples where local softening of stainless steel components for medical and electrical applications is done at very high speed. A specific measuring and control system has been developed for such processes what is indispensable for reliable industrial processes.