Electron beam hardening

An electron beam heats up the outer surface layer of workpieces to austenitization temperature so that a martensitic structure of great hardness form towards the inside of the part to be hardened tue to the steep temperature gradient causing intrinsic quenching.

This treatment must be carried out in a vacuum and does not cause distortion on hardening. Consequently, both locally restricted hardening and surface layer hardening in precision parts is possible.