| In order to improve wear and erosion-resistances of a structural alloy steel (SNCM 8) during heat-cycling, chromium-allayed layers were produced on the surface by irradiating CO₂ laser. Specimens were prepared either by electroplating of hard-chromium or coating of chromium powders on the steel followed by the laser treatment. Index values, which related the depth and the width of the alloyed layers to the scanning speed of laser, for both samples are experimentally measured. At a fixed scanning speed, while both samples resulted in a similar depth of the alloyed layers, the chromium powder coated specimen showed larger width of the alloyed layer than the chromium electroplated one. The hardness values of the alloyed layers in both samples were slightly lower than that of the martensitic region beneath the alloyed layers. But they are considerably higher than those of steel matrices. Regardless of the prior treatments before laser irradiation, distributions of chromium ware fairly uniform throughout the alloyed layers. |
|
