: Deep and narrow welds can be produced by laser welding at high welding speeds with a narrow heat-affected zone (HAZ) and little distortion of the workpiece. This study aims to evaluate the usefulness of laser welding at automobile component manufacture. Microstructure observation, hardness test, tensile test and fatigue life test are performed by using the fiber laser welded SPFC590 steel sheets which is used widely in the manufacture of automotive seat frame. Three kinds of specimens are only a SPFC590 steel plate, quasi-butt joint plate and lap joint plate by laser welding. The following results that will be helpful to understand the static strength, fatigue crack initiation and growth mechanism were obtained. (1) The tensile strength of quasi butt joint specimens nearly equal to base metal specimens, but lap joint specimens fractured in shear area of weld metal. (2) The fatigue strength of quasi-butt joint specimen was approximately 8 percent lower than that of the base metal specimens. Furthermore, the lap joint specimens were less than 86 percent of the base metal specimens. (3) The lap joint fatigue specimens fractured at shear area in high level stress amplitude, while fractured at normal area in low level stress amplitude. From these results, the applicability of the laser welding to the automobile component is discussed.

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