Modificación de los aceros rápidos de herramientas AISI M2 perfusión superficial con láser bajo diferentes condiciones de operacion

Abstract

We applied a laser surface melting treatment to AISI M2 high-speed steel -hardened and tempered- and studied the resulting surface characteristics (microstructure) and mechanical behavior (hardness and wear performance). The steel was treated using a Nd:YAG continuous-wave laser with different operation conditions. The influence of the laser processing parameters on the single tracks and on melted surface layer obtained by multipass system with 50% overlap were studied. The microstructure for all conditions is formed by MC- and M 2C-type carbides, martensite and retained austenite; the quantities of this phase depends on the operations conditions. It has been determined that low levels of power density and high speed scanning of the beam leads to greater homogeneity in the microstructure with high hardness values and wear resistance.