| Abstract: | | 1. | When preliminarily hardened high speed steel, tempered at 350–560°C, is treated by a continuous CO2-laser with energy density J=34±3 MJ/m2, a strengthened layer with maximal thickness and hardness forms. | | 2. | Accelerated heating by laser beam to temperatures in the range between Ac3 and Tpl and practically instantaneous cooling to normal temperature at rates of more than 104°C/sec give rise to a highly disperse (in melting) and fine-grained structure recrystallized by precipitation hardening (in quenching in the solid state) and consisting of martensite, residual austenite (in increased amount), and carbides (in a small amount). The intense dissolution of ledeburitic carbides type M6C in the laser-hardened zone causes additional alloying of the solid solution, increased stability of the residual austenite, and super-sautration of the finely accular martensite. | | 3. | The decomposition of residual austenite and the intense dispersion hardening in the process of tempering at 560–600°C 1 h increase the hardness of the laser-hardened layer of high speed steel R6M5 by 2–4 HRCe, and resistance to tempering by 40–50°C compared with conventional heat treatment. The absence of coarse carbide particles in the hardened layer reduced the probability of brittle failure by chipping in operation of the cutting tool. |
Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys. Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 10, pp. 7–12, October, 1989. |
