Stud Welding Process: a comprehensive literature review of fundamentals, recent advances, and industrial perspectives

This review presents a comprehensive analysis of Stud Welding, an arc-based joining process widely applied in sectors such as civil construction, shipbuilding, automotive, and petrochemical industries. Despite its practical importance and advantages such as high productivity, operational simplicity, and the ability to perform joining without access to the reverse side of the workpiece, the process remains less widespread and less investigated in the scientific literature compared to other arc welding methods. The review covers fundamental aspects, including operating principles, process variations such as capacitor discharge and drawn arc, metallurgical characteristics, advances in automation and control, as well as applications in structural steels, non-ferrous alloys, and special conditions such as underwater welding. A critical analysis of the publications highlights significant gaps regarding parameter standardization, quality monitoring, and understanding of metallurgical mechanisms, particularly in dissimilar joints and under highly constrained structural conditions. It is worth noting that, after an extensive literature search, no previous reviews exclusively dedicated to stud welding were identified, which reinforces the pioneering nature of this work. By providing a technical and comprehensive overview of the process, this review aims to consolidate the existing knowledge and encourage further investigations toward the improvement and expansion of industrial applications of Stud Welding.