Cold welding under space and launch conditions
A common failure mode seen during the testing and operation of spacecraft is termed ‘cold-welding’ (‘coldwelding’, ‘contact welding’, ‘adhesion’, ‘sticking’ or ‘stiction’). Coldwelding is a solid-state welding process in which joining takes place without fusion or heating at the interface of the two parts to be welded. This effect mainly concerns metal-to-metal contacts. It was first recognized as a general materials phenomenon in the 1940s: Clean, flat surfaces of metal might strongly adhere if brought [...]
