Effect of laser beam mode on laser quenching process

In order to examine the variation of CO2 laser beam mode profile,and analyze the effect of different laser modes on the uniformity of quenching hardened layers,a pyroelectric camera-based industrial inline laser beam analyzer was installed to monitor the laser beam profiles in real-time during the laser quenching process. Results showed that due to the ununiformity of the laser power intensity in spatial distribution, the depth of the hardened layer at either side of the beam spot differed obviously. In addition,it was found the microstructures of laser quenching layers were dominated by laser beam modes and uniform power distribution resulted in uniform microstructures.