COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS IN LASER HARDENING OF 42CRMO4 STEEL
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68302/std2026.vol2.208Keywords:
laser hardening, numerical calculations, experiments, power density, speed, operating intervalsAbstract
Laser hardening of steels is a modern technological process widely used in the automotive, aerospace, and tooling industries. In the present study, a comparative analysis between numerical modeling results and experimental data for the laser hardening process of 42CrMo4 steel samples is performed. Numerical calculations were used to determine preliminary operating intervals of power density at different processing speeds, based on the heat conduction equation and the thermal balance equation with applied approximations. For comparison purposes, in-house experimental results obtained using a 4 kW diode laser were employed. A good correlation between the numerical and experimental results is observed. The obtained findings are useful for operators of laser processing systems as well as for researchers in the field of laser hardening of steels.
Supporting Agencies
The authors express their gratitude for the helpful advice and suggestions to all reviewers and organizers to improve the presentation of the performed research. This research was funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the Operational Program “Scientific Research, Innovation and Digitization for Smart Transformation 2021-2027”, Project CoC “Smart Mechatronics, Eco- and Energy Saving Systems and Technologies”, BG16RFPR002-1.014-0005.Downloads
References
[1] W. Steen, J. Mazumder, Laser Material Processing, Fourth Edition, Springer London, ps. 558, 2010, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84996-062-5
[2] J. Ion, Laser Processing of Engineering Materials, Elsevier, ps. 556, 2005, ISBN 978-0-7506-6079-
[3] Ł. Łach, Recent Advances in Laser Surface Hardening: Techniques, Modeling Approaches, and Industrial Applications, Crystals, 14(8):726, 2024, DOI: 10.3390/cryst14080726 [Accessed 13 August 2024]
[4] T. Quan, Overview Study on Laser Surface Hardening Technology and Its Applications, International Journal of Engineering Inventions, Volume 14, Issue 5, pp. 68-75, 2025, ISSN: 2278-7461 [Accessed May 2025]
[5] N. Dahotre and S. Harimkar, Laser Fabrication and Machining of Materials, Springer New York, ps. 558, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72344-0 [ Accessed 25 January 2008]
[6] M. Miralles, Laser Hardening of Cutting Tools, Master’s Thesis, Lulea University of Technology, 2003, ps. 87, https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1022680/FULLTEXT01.pdf
[7] W. Deng, X. Gong, C. Du and J. Zhang, Effect of laser hardening on surface properties of high-speed steel, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 2951 012146, 2024, DOI 10.1088/1742-6596/2951/1/012146
[8] H. Nguyen, Laser Nd:YAG Surface Hardening to Improve the Durability of Steel Components, Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research (ETASR), Volume: 15, Issue: 6, pp. 29625-29631, 2025, https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.14455 [Accepted 27 September 2025]
[9] T. Karadzhov, D. Dichev, I. Zhelezarov, B. Georgiev, D. Pulov and K. Drumev, Improving the accuracy of temperature measurement with thermoresistive sensors, in 2025 XXXV International Scientific Symposium Metrology and Metrology Assurance (MMA), pp. 1–5, 2025, DOI: 10.1109/MMA67107.2025.11311316 [Accepted September 2025]
[10] F. Cordovilla, J. Domínguez, P. Sancho, Á. García-Beltrán and J. Ocaña, Characterization of the surface oxidation reaction and its influence on the radiation absorption during the surface laser hardening process of the 42CrMo4 steel, Revista de Metalurgia, Vol. 52 No. 2, 2016, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3989/revmetalm.2016.v52.i2
[11] I. Černý and J. Sís Fatigue Strength of Laser Hardened 42CrMo4 Steel Considering Effects of Compressive Residual Stresses on Short Crack Growth, Procedia Engineering, 74: 417-420, 2014, DOI: 10.1016/j.proeng.2014.06.292
[12] I. Černý, I. Fürbacher, D. Mikulová and J. Sís, An Effect of Laser Hardening on Contact and Bending Fatigue of a 42CrMo4 Steel, Engineering Materials, 665:221-224, 2015, DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.665.221 [Accepted September 2015]
[13] C. Soriano, G. Alberdi, J. Lambarri, A. Aranzabe and A. Yáñez, Study of the influence of the oscillation frequency on the surface hardening process of the 42CrMo4 alloy using an oscillating laser beam, Surface and Coatings Technology, Volume 409, 12687715, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2021.126877 [Accepted 5 March 2021]
[14] M. Furlani, S. Carvalho and M. Fernandes de Lima, Effect of laser surface hardening on a low carbon steel substrate wear and hardness, 2021, DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2111.13183 [Accepted November 2021]
[15] S. Reich, D. Heunoske et al. Laser hardening of steel with a 120 kW laser at high throughput, 13th CIRP Conference on Photonic Technologies [LANE 2024], 15-19 September 2024, Fürth, Germany, Procedia CIRP, 124 pp.751–754, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2024.08.217 [Accepted January 2024]
[16] N. Dolchinkov, T. Petrov, G. Petrov, C. Tolev and E. Dimitrov, Features of Color Laser Marking on Metals, Environment. Technology. Resources. Proceedings of the 14th International Scientific and Practical Conference, Volume 3, 297-305, https://doi.org/10.17770/etr2023vol3.7222
[17] N. Dolchinkov, Marking and Cutting of Non-metallic Products with CO2 Laser, IOP Publishing Ltd, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 2224, 2021 2nd International Symposium on Automation, Information and Computing (ISAIC 2021) 03/12/2021 - 06/12/2021, 1742-6588, рр 1-8, 2021, Online ISSN: 1742-6596
[18] H. Zhang, M. Zhu, S. Ji, J. Zhang and H. Fan, Numerical simulation and experimental study on laser hardening process of 42CrMo4 steel, Advances in Mechanical Engineering, 13(9): 168781402110446, 2021, DOI: 10.1177/16878140211044649 [Accepted September 2021]
[19] S. Idelsohn, M. Storti and L. Crivelli, Numerical methods in phase-change problems, Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering, 1(1):49-74, 1994, DOI: 10.1007/BF02736180 [Accepted March 1994]
[20] A. El-Batahgy, R. Ahmed and A-R. Moussa, Laser Surface Hardening of Tool Steels – Experimental and Numerical Analysis, Journal of Surface Engineered Materials and Advanced Technology, 03(02):146-153, 2013, DOI: 10.4236/jsemat.2013.32019 [Accepted January 2013]
[21] Dolchinkov N, Lazov L, Shterev Y., Lilianova St., Pacejs Anton, Use of CO2 laser for marking and clearing of textile materials for manufacture of military equipment , 12th International Scienfic and Practical conference Environment. Technology. Resources. ISBN 1691-5402, Vol 3, 20-22.06.2019 г. Rezekne, Latvia, pp.. 32-36
[22] Korolev I.., Kravchenko, M., Fedorova, E., Dolchinkov, N., Protection of biological objects from electromagnetic radiation, E3S Web of Conferences, 2023, 411, 02003, VI International Conference on Actual Problems of the Energy Complex and Environmental Protection (APEC-VI-2023), https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202341102003
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Lyubomir Lazov, Nikolay Angelov, Prodan Prodanov, Normunds Teirumnieks
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
