Effect of the Laser Cleaning Process on the Surface State and the Fatigue Strength of a Ferritic Steel
摘要
The laser cleaning process is carried out on a ferritic steel for two configurations: a flat top beam profile on a squared-shaped laser spot and a Gaussian beam profile on a round-shaped laser spot. The two laser configurations induced fluence values of 0.20 and 0.27 J/cm2, respectively. An exhaustive characterization is then carried out, including microstructure, roughness, nanohardness and residual stresses, showing that the laser affected layer reaches a maximum depth of 90 µm. Fatigue tests were performed for each configuration, showing that the endurance limits remain unchanged in the stress range explored. This is attributed to the combination of negative effects (tensile residual stresses up to 354 MPa) and positive effects (grain refinement, increased nanohardness, reduced maximum valley depth).