Introduction. Laser surface treatment of mechanical engineering products makes it possible to increase their durability. However, the laser hardening process is not good at the consistency of results, since choosing the irradiation modes and schemes of specific products, texture effects in the zones of laser exposure are not taken into account. This leads to premature wearing and even destructing the working surfaces of irradiated products. Therefore, the work objective is to study the mechanism of influence of the structure of the laser-hardened layer on the operational properties of the tool.Materials and Methods. The materials for this study were tool steels: R6M5 and R18 (according to the EN 10027 standard tool steels: 1.3355, 1.3343). Pulsed laser irradiation was carried out at the technological device Kvant-16 with a radiation power density of 70–250 MW/m2. Scanning probe and optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and durometric methods for analyzing the steels structure were used. The values of steel strength in bending and impact strength were determined before and after laser treatment.Results. It has been experimentally proven that it is necessary to strengthen the sections of the products working surfaces that are subject to maximum wear and are under the action of compressive stresses during operation. It is shown that textural effects in the laser treatment zones lead to a decrease in the friction coefficients and contribute to an increase in the wear and adhesion resistance of the steels surface layers.Discussion and Conclusion. The results of the research carried out make it possible to rationally select the surface laser processing modes and schemes of products for various functional purposes and ensure their operability with a guarantee. The possibilities increasing the structural strength and properties of the tool due to laser alloying the surface layers of powder-coated steels and stabilizing tempering after laser irradiation are determined.
