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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Researchers investigating undercooled metals [wikipedia.org] have found a method for soldering without heat [futurity.org]:

Researchers have created new liquid particles that can solder metals at room temperature. The project started as a search for a way to stop liquid metal from returning to a solid—even below the metal's melting point. That's something called undercooling and it has been widely studied for insights into metal structure and metal processing. But it had been a challenge to produce large and stable quantities of undercooled metals.

Researchers at Iowa State University thought if tiny droplets of liquid metal could be covered with a thin, uniform coating, they could form stable particles of undercooled liquid metal. The engineers experimented with a new technique that uses a high-speed rotary tool to sheer liquid metal into droplets within an acidic liquid. And then nature lends a hand: The particles are exposed to oxygen and then an oxidation layer is allowed to cover the particles, essentially creating a capsule containing the liquid metal. That layer is then polished until it is thin and smooth.

Also at Iowa State University [iastate.edu].

Mechanical Fracturing of Core-Shell Undercooled Metal Particles for Heat-Free Soldering [nature.com] (DOI: 10.1038/srep21864)

Original Submission