Wear Characteristics of Carbon and Tool Steels Hardened by Combined Laser-Ultrasonic Surface Treatment

Abstract

To increase the wear resistance of the subsurface layers, AISI 1045 carbon steel and AISI D2 tool steel samples were hardened by a laser heat treatment (LHT) followed by ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT). This paper focuses on studying the effects of the separately applied LHT, UIT, and combined LHT + UIT processes on the wear behavior of the hardened surface of carbon and tool steel. The comparison of the surface roughness and hardness after surface treatments are also addressed. The hardened samples were examined after the short-term (15 min), and long-term (45 min) wear tests under oil-lubricated conditions in the quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions. An optical 3D profilometer evaluated the wear tracks. The results demonstrated that the formed fine-grained martensitic structure coupled with high surface hardness and low surface roughness after combined treatment lead to a significant reduction of the wear loss regardless of the steel type.