Impact wear behavior of laser hardened hypoeutectoid 2Cr13 martensite stainless steel

Impact assessment for laser hardened hypoeutectoid 2Cr13 martensite stainless steel was carried out on a specifically developed ball-on-flat impact tester. Results showed better impact behavior of 2Cr13 surfaces treated by a continuous wave CO₂ laser than those under conventional heat treatment. Micro-hardness measurement demonstrated that the surface hardness of the laser treated specimens varied with the operation parameters of laser hardening. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis and surface profile measurement suggested that the size of the impact wear scars of 2Cr13 specimens decreases with the increase of the surface hardness. EDX analysis showed that the oxidation resistance of the laser-hardened surfaces was relatively superior to their conventionally heat-treated counterparts. Compared with conventionally-treated 2Cr13 steel, the superior impact wear resistance of laser surface-processed steel was attributed both to grain refinement and to the higher martensite content near the surface that resulted from rapid cooling. © 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.