Advances in Welding of Metallic Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Welding remains a fundamental joining technology for metallic systems across advanced manufacturing sectors, including transportation, energy, and aerospace. The introduction of advanced alloys and the demand for higher structural performance require continuous progress in welding processes, metallurgical understanding, and quality assurance. This Special Issue aims to present recent scientific and technological developments that enhance weldability, improve joint performance, and enable the reliable integration of metallic materials in complex engineering applications.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Advanced welding processes such as arc welding, laser and electron beam welding, friction stir welding, hybrid welding, and so forth.

- Dissimilar and multi-material welding, interfacial reactions, and methods to mitigate metallurgical incompatibilities.

- Welding of advanced metallic materials, including high-entropy alloys, ultra-high-strength steels, aluminum–lithium alloys, nickel-based superalloys, and magnesium alloys.

- Metallurgical mechanisms governing solidification, phase transformations, grain refinement, precipitation, and defect formation in weld metals and heat-affected zones.

- Microstructure–property relationships, with emphasis on mechanical behavior, fatigue and fracture performance, and service degradation.

- Thermal cycles, residual stresses, and distortion, including numerical modeling, process simulation, and in-process control strategies.

- Post-weld treatments and repair technologies to enhance integrity and durability.

- Quality evaluation and non-destructive testing, including in-situ monitoring and emerging diagnostic tools for welding of metallic materials.

We welcome original research articles, reviews, and contributions integrating experimental investigations, advanced characterization, in-situ process monitoring, modeling, and performance assessment. This Special Issue aims to provide an updated and comprehensive overview of current advances that will guide future developments in welding engineering.

Dr. Pasquale Russo Spena
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.