Influence and application of laser parameters on unit of H13 steel by laser remelting process

Die service life improvement is an important problem in high-pressure die casting industry. Former studies show that biomimetic laser remelting process provides desirable microstructural and microhardness changes, which induces the intensified particles for improving the service life. The present study concerns laser surface remelting of H13 tool steel in a quenched and tempered state using an Nd:YAG laser. This purpose is to obtain data for establishing database of laser parameters for H13 material, which is helpful for applying laser remelting on die casting dies. The influence of laser parameters on the characteristics of the unit has been investigated. The interrelationships among the laser processing parameters, the penetration depth, the width, and the area of the unit were discussed by single-factor experiments. A set of die casting die was selected and processed by laser remelting, and the die service life has been increased from 13,000 shots to 27,000 shots under practical die casting conditions.