Adherence in dry contacts which are not heated to any influential extent by the current

Abstract

The fact that hot metal pieces are capable of welding when forced into contact is an ancient experience of the blacksmiths, but any attempt to analyze the role the high temperature plays in the phenomenon is of a very recent date. From anticipating results of both the present and the next paragraph we may state that the essential action of the high temperature seems to be to soften the material, thus providing the possibility for large metallic contact areas to be generated by plastic deformation. However, it is reasonable to expect that the temperature also exerts another influence, namely, the creation of activation energy for covalent bonds between the members. In the literature this idea is predominating and some authors believe that a high temperature, which produces atom diffusion between the members, is necessary for the weld in contacts.