Characteristics of CO2 laser welded 800MPa grade TRIP steel

The effect of welding conditions on defects, microstructure, mechanical properties and formability of CO2 laser welded 800MPa grade TRIP steel was investigated. Bead-on-plate welding was carried out under the various welding speed in 6kW with a shield gas of Helium. Extensive porosity was observed in the joints produced at a 4m/min of welding speed but was not observed in the joints when a welding speed greater than 6m/min was used. The maximum hardness was obtained at the weld metal and the HAZ near the weld metal and was the same regardless of the welding speed. The HAZ hardness near the base metal was reduced due to retained ferrite but was higher than that of the base metal. In a parallel tensile test to weld axis, the strength of the joints was higher than that of the base metal. Elongation was found to be lower than that of the raw material because a crack was initiated in the bead at the strength levels corresponding to the tensile strength of the base metal and was propagated perpendicular to tensile direction. The formability of joints was found to be 63% that of the raw material.