Effects of laser hardening process parameters on hardness depth of Ck45 steel using Taguchi’s optimization technique

Abstract

Abstract Laser hardening is one of the reasonable procedures utilized to improve surface mechanical and wear resistance of target materials. This process is easy to use for improving surface properties of complex shape components with minimum time requirement. The beauty of this process is that it is possible to improve only selective surface properties without altering the remaining surface properties of bulk material. Ck45 steel has various important properties like hardness, superior wear resistance and frictional performance etc. These properties are useful in various industrial applications. The existing study is an attempt to analyse results on surface properties with the aid of process parameters of a laser hardening process on hardness depth and microstructure of laser hardened Ck45 steel the use of a design of experimental approach. From this analysis, it can be summarized that the depth of the surface layer hardness is maximized by controlling the laser beam power, laser scan speed and standoff distance, which improves the service life of Ck45 steel components hardened by laser. Comparing the experimental consequences with the effects of L9 orthogonal array approach, the proportion error was observed to be negligible with a higher co-relation coefficient (r2) of 0.905.