Cold welding, or contact welding, is a solid-state welding process that requires little or no heat or fusion to join two or more metals together. Instead, the energy used for creating a weld comes in the form of pressure. During the cold welding process, unlike with fusion welding processes, no liquid or molten phase is present in the joint as can be seen in other techniques including arc welding, friction welding or laser welding.
Also known as cold pressure welding, this process to join metals without heat was first recognized in the 1940s, although the history of cold welding goes back much further. Widely used for joining wires as well as for joining two metals together in space, this process had a range of applications across the industry.
