Paper Title
Study of The Laser Weld Ability of a Third Generation Advanced High Strength Steel

Abstract
This work aimed to study the laser weldability of the recently developed third generation steel 3gen 1000M. Currently, the automotive industry is looking for solutions that promote environmental sustainability and road safety [1]. The advanced high-strength steels are one of the proposed solutions, so it becomes pertinent to study joining processes of these materials, as for example the one selected in this work, the laser welding [2]. For the present study, small samples were welded in butt joint type with and without filler metal. For the welding process, it was used the pulsed Nd:YAG equipment SISMA SWA300. After the welds, tensile tests, microstructures and hardness tests were performed. The purpose of all this experimental work was to obtain reliable conclusions regarding the mechanical and microstructural properties of this new material, as well as its weldability with and without filler metal. The base metal, unaffected by the heat, presented a microstructure consisting of ferrite and martensite. An essentially martensitic microstructure was observed in the central zone of the weld bead where high values of hardness were measured. For the base metal the tensile strength was 1055 MPa with a maximum elongation of 23%. With respect to welded samples without filler metal, the weld bead showed higher tensile strength than the base metal, the same was observed for welded samples with filler metal equal to the base metal. The welds with filler metal different than the base metal broke through the bead. Keywords - Laser Welding, Third Generation Steel, 3gen 1000M Steel, Tensile Tests, Microstructure, Hardness Tests.