Further study of laser surface treatment of 52100 steel

• Main Author: Chiu, Jing Jie
• Other Authors: Zhou Wei
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/77873
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

AISI 52100 steel contains high amount of carbon and chromium. Due to its high wear resistance and good contact fatigue, it is extensively used in mechanical components such extrusion tools and to manufacture bearings. In this project, experimental studies on laser hardening of AISI 52100 alloy steel under different types of purging gases and laser parameters were a conducted and analyzed. The microstructure changes are analyzed using stereo, optical and scanning electron microscope. Hardness values were determined using the Vickers Hardness machine. After experiments were conducted, it was realized that different purging gases did not cause much variations in the hardness value. However, the different operating laser parameters had a huge impact on the hardened depth, width as well as hardness values. Both the laser scanning speed and power plays an important role in determining the heat-treated region’s depth, width and hardness value. When the laser power is low (100W) or the laser scanning speed (200mm/s) is high, the hardening effect is not significant.