A valve body for an electromechanically operable valve is produced by providing a base element with a circumferential sidewall having a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion, the sidewall being made of a ferromagnetic material and enclosing a cavity extending along a longitudinal axis. The third portion is positioned in longitudinal direction between the first portion and the second portion. A thickness of the third portion is smaller than a thickness of the first portion and the second portion. Hardening the third portion is achieved by laser heating, which transforms a material structure of the third portion into a martensitic structure. The locally decreased thickness creates a bottleneck for a magnetic flux, and a magnetic flux bypass in the valve body is reduced due to magnetic saturation; however, a structural resistance of the valve body remains high due to the laser induced hardening.

An injection valve, including a valve body having a longitudinal axis; a valve needle axially movable in the valve body between closed and open positions; and an actuator having a movable armature coupled to the valve needle in order to move same, and a pole element fixed in the body, wherein an armature surface contacts a pole surface when the valve needle reaches the open position. The valve needle has a needle sleeve arranged in a through opening of the pole element such that a lateral surface of the needle sleeve is in sliding contact with the surface of the through opening for guiding valve needle movement. At least one of the surface of the through opening and the lateral surface of the needle sleeve is formed by a chromium nitride layer. The pole surface includes plural annular surfaces, only one of which contacts the armature surface.

A fuel pump includes an electromagnetic intake valve including a coil winding portion formed by winding an electromagnetic coil around a bobbin and a magnetic circuit configuration portion constituting a magnetic circuit when a current flows through the electromagnetic coil. The magnetic circuit configuration portion includes a yoke disposed so as to surround the coil winding portion, and a predetermined part facing, across a gap, the coil winding portion in a radial direction of the electromagnetic intake valve. The dimension of the gap is set such that the coil winding portion and the predetermined part come into contact with each other first when an impact force directed from an outer side to an inner side in the radial direction of the electromagnetic intake valve is applied to the yoke or the coil winding portion.