A new equipment was developed to investigate the thermal fatigue behaviour of laser surface treated layers. The equipment is appropriate to study the thermal fatigue of rollers. The compared test materials were CMo3 grade hardened and tempered steels with laser quenched, TiC alloyed and Stellite 6 coated surfaces. The comparison of the surfaces based on the time of the first crack net appearance, the hardness profile of the surface and the morphological parameters of the cracks.