3D SCANNING LASER HARDENING

The laser scanning method uses a small laser spot in combination with a laser scanning head. The method is based on a very fast laser beam sweeping executed by the scanning head perpendicularly to the main laser treatment trajectory. The fast sweeping beam acts like a continuous wide laser spot. The method can be advantageously used on parts, which cannot be processed by a "wide-spot" standard laser hardening method. Experiments with a solid state disc laser of maximum power of 5.3 kW and laser scanning head allowing spot displacement speed up to 21.5 m/s are presented. Capabilities of the method are demonstrated on laser hardening of a small hole inner surface, which cannot be processed by a standard laser hardening method. The aim of this work is to demonstrate advantages of 3D scanning method for processing of the complex, hardly reachable parts.