Cold pressure welding is a solid phase welding technique performed at room temperature using high compressive pressures. It relies on disrupting surface oxide layers through deformation from pressure, exposing clean metal surfaces that bond together via interatomic forces without melting. Historically, it has been used since 3000 BC for hammer welding but the earliest known example of ambient temperature welding dates to 700 BC in Britain for gold boxes. It is applicable to joining soft ductile metals like aluminum through butt or lap joints in circular wire sections or where heating is not possible. The mechanism involves metallic bonding between exposed atom clouds from each surface.