Galvão, IvanLoureiro, AltinoMendes, Ricardo2021-01-062021-01-062020-12-14GALVÃO, Ivan; LOUREIRO, Altino; MENDES, Ricardo – Impact welding of materials. Metals. ISSN 2075-4701. Vol. 10, N.º 12 (2020), pp. 1-42075-4701http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/12565Recent industrial criteria, focused on obtaining increasingly efficient structures, require the production of multimaterial components. However, the manufacturing requirements of these components are not met by conventional welding techniques. Alternative solid-state technologies, such as friction or impact-based processes, must be considered. Impact welding processes have the advantage of presenting a very short cycle time, which minimises the interaction of the materials under high temperature. This fact strongly contributes to reducing the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds (IMCs), i.e., one of the main concerns of welding dissimilar materials. Moreover, as the influence of the welding process is confined to a very narrow band around the materials interface, similar and dissimilar welds with high-strength bonding and a minimal heat-affected zone can be produced. The impact welding family encompasses different welding processes, such as explosion welding, magnetic pulse welding, vaporising foil actuator welding, and laser impact welding. Although these processes share the main operating principle, consisting of a high-velocity collision between a flyer and a target, they differ in the way the flyer is accelerated. These processes also present very different length scales, providing the impact welding family with a broad applicability range. The technical interest of impact welding is driving the ongoing development of many scientific studies, which are essential to optimise the current manufacturing processes by developing new welding strategies and solutions. The present special issue presents a sample of the cutting-edge research that is being conducted on the multidisciplinary field of impact welding.engImpact weldingHeat-affectedExplosion weldingMagnetic pulse weldingVaporising foil actuator weldingLaser impact weldingjournal article10.3390/met10121668