SURFACE TREATMENTS BY LASER TECHNOLOGY

In-du-strial ap-pli-ca-ti-ons re-qu-i-re parts of com-po-nents with spe-ci-fic sur-fa-ce proper-ti-es such are good cor-ro-sion re-si-stan-ce, we-ar re-si-stan-ce and hard-ness. Al-loys with tho-se pro-per-ti-es are usu-ally very ex-pen-si-ve and the-re is a gre-at in-te-rest in re-du-cing the cost of com-po-nents for ful-fil-ling the-se requ-i-re-ments. In this sen-se, la-ser sur-fa-ce processing has been used as a cost-ef-fec-ti-ve tec-hni-que to im-pro-ve the sur-fa-ce pro-per-ti-es of ma-te-ri-als, by use of the la-ser be-am he-at for mo-di-fi-ca-tion of its struc-tu-re and physi-cal cha-rac-te-ri-stics. La-ser sur-fa-ce tre-at-ments can be di-vi-ded in-to di-rect proces-ses, which only need the ge-ne-ra-ted he-at, such are har-de-ning and mel-ting, and pro-ces-ses which need fil-ler ma-te-rial as al-loying and clad-ding. The-re-fo-re, the aim of this pa-per is to summari-ze the results of se-ve-ral works ba-sed on la-ser sur-fa-ce tre-at-ments, in par-ti-cu-lar, hardening and mel-ting of hot and cold work ste-els, and la-ser clad-ding of for-ming to-ols with nanoparticles. The mic-ro-struc-tu-ral cha-rac-te-ri-za-tion and mec-ha-ni-cal pro-per-ti-es (microhard-ness, we-ar re-si-stan-ce) will be de-scri-bed in each ca-se.