Laser beam surface treatment - is wear no longer the bug bear of old?

Wear is today still the single largest contributory factor resulting in the premature demise of production tools - in stubborn defiance of the deployment of materials of the highest quality to make them. Conventional surface treatment techniques applied with the purpose of improving wear characteristics are successful only in a few isolated areas of application. Subjected to the harsh operating conditions under which hot working tools are required to labour, even nitrate, PVD or CVD coatings which have proved their worth in cold forming operations simply cannot cope. In such cases, laser beam surface treatment offers new ways of producing wear- resistant surfaces. The causes of the damage can be countered locally to some considerable effect by applying thermal and thermochemical methods of modifying the material. The prolongation of tool life thus achieved, which can reach 500 %, represents a decisive increase in the economic efficiency of forging and diecasting operations.