Patent ID: 7820939

Claim:
A method for laser welding a pair of metal members together, at least one of the metal members having a protective metal coating, the method comprising: applying a thin layer of an alloying agent on at least one of the metal members; placing one end of one of the metal members in overlapping relation to one end of the other metal member to form an overlapping section, such that the alloying agent is between the first and second members in the overlapping section with zero-gap; and laser welding the metal members and the alloying agent together to form a weld, such that the protective metal coating becomes substantially alloyed with the alloying agent to form an alloy, and such that the extended solid solubility limit of the alloying agent in the weld is not substantially exceeded, wherein the alloy agent comprises copper powder, the protective metal coating comprises zinc and the metal members comprise steel.