OPERATIONAL PROPERTIES OF TOOL STEELS AFTER COMBINED VOLUME-AND-SURFACE STRENGTHENING

The durability of tools can by improved by the introduction and develo pment of methods of surface hardening. The industry is already perform ing hardening by highly concentrated energy sources such as laser beam s, plasma jets, electron beams. However, this kind of hardening cannot yet replace completely volume heat treatment in tool manufacturing. T his is connected with the short time of the temperature action of the highly concentrated energy source, which leads to incomplete structura l and phase transformations that determine the operational properties of tool materials. An important way for improving the tool hardening c onsists in the development of combined technological processes includi ng volume and surface heat treatment. The present paper is devoted to this problem.