Dear Colleagues,

Advanced materials generally require the development of novel joining techniques, as this is crucial to integrate them into functional structures and to widen their application field. Additionally, joining constitutes a technology which influences all the industrial sectors, playing a key role in the economic and social development of a country.

For instance, diffusion bonding and brazing are two straightforward techniques for producing sound and reliable joints, since these processes are capable of joining a wide range of materials of interest in the aerospace industry, as well as in many other industrial applications, offering remarkable advantages over conventional fusion welding processes.

In these joining processes and in others, diffusion phenomena play an important role. Understanding these different transport phenomena at many levels, from atomistic to macro, is crucial for the characterization of the joints interfaces. The diffusion can be the principal mechanism for joint formation as in a solid-state diffusion bonding process or can only play a role in a specific state to ensure bonding.

This Special Issue aims at showcasing the recent progress in the joining technologies of advanced materials, with particular attention to the microstructure–mechanical properties relationships of the bonded joints based on the diffusion process. Both theoretical and experimental research, review articles, and novel results are welcome.

Prof. Sónia Simões
Guest Editor

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• joining processes
• advanced materials
• diffusion
• brazing
• friction stir welding
• microstructural characterization