Effect of Laser Beam Alloying Strategies on the Metallurgical and Mechanical Properties of Hot Forming Tool Steels

This paper discusses the influence of alloying strategies on the thermal energy input and the resulting metallurgical structure of modified tool surfaces. Also the cooling behavior of alloyed lines for different energy inputs per unit length is of interest. Therefore, the metallurgical microstructure is analyzed regarding microhardness as well as formation of carbides. Furthermore, a numerical thermal simulation is developed to investigate the temperature profile in the heat affected zone of the specimen. These investigations permit the control of the spatiotemporal energy input to avoid tempering of the microstructure.