Laser Heat Treatment

Laser hardening can be used to locally improve the wear resistance and service life of parts for a wide variety of applications from press forming tools to oil drilling equipment. The technology is especially suitable for selective hardening of complex shaped parts, bores or edges, and applications where minimal heat input into the surrounding material is critical.

The new Fraunhofer CLA ID-H Hardening head can be used to carry out laser beam hardening of hardenable steels and cast iron materials in confined spaces, typically inside rotating cylinders or tubes.

Lasers can also be used for locally softening / increasing the ductility of sheet metal components, which is of particular interest for automotive applications, where improved formability for press and roll forming operations is required in order to produce advanced lightweight automotive body panels.

Lasers can be used to create permanent color mark on a metal surface. Laser color marking is based on surface oxidation and thin film effect and does not use any chemicals, coatings or tools. Different colors ranging from silver and gold to blue and green can be created.

Further components for process monitoring are available for process safety and quality control. In this context, various camera systems can be used (e.g. E-MAqS camera). It is also possible to observe, and, if necessary, to record the complete process from above through the powder nozzle via the Fraunhofer E-MAqS camera system.