Laser Surface Treatment of SAE 4340 and 300M Steels

Abstract

The 300M steel has emerged from the high strength SAE 4340 steel, which had been developed in order to obtain increased toughness and weldability in applications requiring better mechanical properties; some minor changes in the alloy elements were introduced: addition of vanadium, and raise in the silicon content. The laser surface hardening is a process in which the steel surface is heated below the melting point, in order to produce solid state phase transformations whithout changing the bulk. This work has evaluated which would be the best parameters for the laser carburizing heat treatment using a low power (50W) CO2 laser, comparing and contrasting the resulting microstructure and hardness of both steels. The following CO2 laser parameters were varied: speed, resolution and number of passes; power was kept constant. Carbon black was used as coating. After the surface laser treatment, the samples were cooled in air and the formation of a hardened layer and heat affected zone in both materials was observed. Samples were prepared for metallographic analysis, followed by optical and scanning electron microscopy observation. Layers presented a Vickers hardness value higher than the base metal and the hardened layer had a higher hardness value compared to the heat affect zone. The formation of martensite in the heat affected zone in both steels was observed, although not to the full extension, making this a multiphasic zone.