R. Blose, Ktech Corporation, Albuquerque, NM

Summary:

Cold spray is adding another dimension to thermal spray coating processes with numerous applications that have yet to be realized. Current activities in the field of Cold Spray are rapidly moving from R&D to commercial applications in industry. To successfully commercialize the technology, cost effective, low maintenance, highly reliable, easy to operate equipment must be available and supported that is designed so that the spray processes can be controlled and repeated. With the growth of this technology there will be a demand for laboratory systems to perform applications research and development as well as high volume production machines for specific industrial applications. The recent focus of Cold Spray equipment development has been to perfect nozzles and gun assemblies, gas heaters, gas flow, powder feed, and process control. This paper describes the automated equipment that is available in the market today and presents advances in nozzle and gas heater performance as well as development of a laboratory powder feeder. This equipment will serve as the baseline for equipment that will soon be installed in industry for commercial production applications.