| Abstract Scope |
Yesterday’s welding, with flying sparks, musty aroma, and fumes, evoked images of danger and primitive technology. But in the last several decades, beneath the surface, a sophisticated scientific foundation of heat transfer, phase transformations, and process-microstructure relationships has evolved. Today, welding has entered the digital age, and its underlying scientific principles are becoming a foundation for additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. Sophisticated mechanistic and machine learning models developed to understand welding are now being repurposed to guide layer-by-layer fabrication, transforming how we design and produce unique critical components that we now take for granted. However, in the future, this technological leap faces a looming challenge: the continuing availability of metal feedstocks. As the global population grows, living standards rise, and our clean energy ambitions intensify, the demand for metals is soaring, putting immense pressure on already fragile metal supply chains. Sustaining the progress of welding and additive manufacturing now depends on securing reliable, responsible, and ethical metal resources, an urgent task for preserving our technology-driven, metals-based civilization for all people. |