Measurements and numerical simulations of laser hardening and remelting thermal cycles

Purpose: of these researches was to investigate the influence of thermal cycles recording conditions and comparing them with the calculated by FEM. This approach allows proposing a new way of determining the technological conditions of the process, based on numerical analyses. Design/methodology/approach: Thermal cycles of high power diode laser hardening and remelting was recorded and calculated by FEM. Results of metallographic examinations were compared with numerical simulations results, as well as the thermographic pictures. Acquisition errors during the thermal cycles were also defined. Findings: Due to the fact that the it was used FEM, comparison of the numerical analyses with real test results was performed for laser hardening and remelting process. Research limitations/implications: For complete information it is needed to collect bigger database of the results and prepare also hardness calculation model for WCL steel. Practical implications: The result of the presented work is to signal a methodology that allows obtaining information on the impact of the parameters of the laser hardening and remelting process on the properties of the treated samples. Not without significance is the fact that the use of FEM eliminates in this case a lot of errors that in real tests can distort the result. Originality/value: The researches were provided for high power diode laser hardening and remelting. The influence of heat input on layers properties and theirs structure was defined. Results were compared with thermographic pictures and calculated cases.