a method of welding metals without heating by pressing together the parts to be joined. It is usually done at room temperature and at high pressures—up to 1 giganewton per m² (10⁴ kg-force per cm²) or more—that produce plastic flow in the metals. Cold welding is a highly productive and economic process; it is especially suitable for plastic materials (plastics and resins) and metals having a cubic, face-centered, crystal lattice, such as aluminum, copper, nickel, silver, and iron (γ-Fe). The most common application is the cold welding of aluminum and of aluminum with dissimilar metals, such as aluminum with copper; the technique makes it possible to avoid the formation of brittle, low-strength intermetallic compounds at the site of the weld, which occur with normal fusion welding. Cold welding is extensively used in electrical engineering, the aviation industry, and elsewhere.