Mechanical properties of laser heat treated 6 mm thick UHSS-steel

Abstract

In this work abrasion resistant (AR) steel with a sheet thickness of 6 mm was heat treated by a 4 kW Nd:YAG and a 4 kW Yb:Yag-laser, followed by self-quenching. In the delivered condition, test material blank (B27S) is water quenched from 920°C. In this condition, fully martensitic microstructure provides excellent hardness of over 500 HB. The test material is referred to AR500 from now onwards. Laser heat treatment was carried out only on top surface of the AR500 sheet: the achieved maximum temperature in the cross-section varies as a function of the depth. Consequently, the microstructure and mechanical properties differ between the surfaces and the centre of the cross-section (layered microstructure). For better understanding, all layers were tested in tensile tests. For a wide heat treatment track, the laser beam was moved by scanning. Temperatures were measured using thermographic camera and thermocouples. Laser heat treated AR500 samples were tested in hardness tests and by air bending using a press brake machine. Microstructures were studied using a light microscope and FE-SEM/SEM-EBSD. At least three kind of microstructure layers were observed: 1) Dual-Phase ferritic/martensitic (T=AC1-AC3), 2) ferritic (T∼AC3) and 3) bainitic/martensitic (T>AC3). © 2011 American Institute of Physics.