Patent ID: 7241971

Claim:
A method for welding at least one ferritic steel workpiece with a laser beam and an electric arc that are combined together, said method comprising: a) supplying a consumable welding wire and a shielding gas; b) melting said consumable welding wire with the laser beam and the electric arc that are combined together; and c) producing a weld on the at least one ferritic steel workpiece, in the presence of said shielding gas mixture, wherein said weld comprises: 1) titanium in an amount, by weight, of about 30 ppm to about 1000 ppm; 2) manganese in an amount, by weight, of at least 0.7%; 3) oxygen in an amount, by weight, of about 50 ppm to about 1000 ppm; 4) nickel in an amount, by weight, of less than about 10%; 5) wherein said weld further comprises aluminum in an amount, by weight, of less than about 1500 ppm, the ratio of the amount of aluminum in said weld to the amount of oxygen in said weld, by weight, being less than about 2.5, and 6) wherein the microstructure of said weld is rich in acicular ferrite.