The laser surface remelting of austenitic stainless steel

The laser surface remelting (LSR) process was successfully applied to restore localized corrosion resistance in sensitized stainless steel and also as a useful method to improve passivity of some martensitic stainless steels. The LSR process can be successfully applied to repair cracks and defects at the surface of highly thermo-mechanically loaded parts of stainless steel. The purpose of presented study was to evaluate the microstructure and properties of laser remelted surface of stainless steels. The wrought austenitic stainless steel and sintered in vacuum 316L type were studied. The laser treatment was performed with the use of high power diode laser (HPDL) and the influence of beam power of 0.7-2.1kW on the properties of the surface layer was evaluated. The geometrical characteristics and x-ray analysis of weld bead were studied as well as microhardness, surface roughness and corrosion resistance were measured. The increase of laser beam power of LSR resulted in the increase of hardness of sintered stainless steel due to the reduction of porosity and formation of fine dendritic and cellular-dendritic microstructure. The corrosion resistance of remelted surface increased for sintered materials, when remelted at 2.1kW. The wrought stainless steel revealed impairment of pitting corrosion when remelted at lower beam power rate.