In the present work, a high power Nd:YAG laser has been employed to weld AISI 430 ferritic stainless steel thin sheets. Optical microscopy was used to study the microstructural evolutions during laser welding. Tensile test and microhardness measurement were employed in order to investigate the mechanical behaviors of the welds. Also, vibrational sample magnetometry was used for characterizing magnetic properties. Texture evolution during laser welding of AISI 430 stainless steel was also studied and a correlation was made between texture evolution and magnetic properties of the welded samples. The effects of welding cycle on the mechanical properties of the laser welds in terms of fracture strength and microhardness profile were discussed. It was found that the magnetic properties of the welded samples experience significant decrease due to the formation of large grains in the fusion zone which are oriented in an unfavorable direction. The results showed that the grain size of the base metal increases from 17 μm up to 92 μm after laser welding. Also, base metal had a dominant γ-fiber, some α-fiber components and also rotated cube texture component. After laser welding, the intensity of cube texture component was diminished and while α and γ-fibers were
