Cold Spray Deposition Process an Application to Composite Materials Deposition

The nature of the cold spray deposition process does not inherently allow for the deposition of a  uniform, homogenous coating if the densities of the initial powder components vary considerably. One means of overcoming this problem is to pre-agglomerate the powders. Agglomeration of the starting materials can average out the variation in the density between the constituents (e.g. achieving a fixed mixture of heavier and lighter metals). The approach we’ve chosen is to employ organic polymeric precursor to bind the powders in preparation for cold spray deposition of ceramic/metal composite.   Subsequent annealing of the precursor containing coating in vacuum leads to final formation of an interconnected ceramic phase, thereby creating a tightly bonded cermet coating. We will discuss the influence of the deposition parameters, binder composition and the annealing regime on the properties of this unique coating. In addition, we will provide a preliminary analysis of the annealed microstructure of the coating and will correlate coating’s structure with its properties via choices made in the deposition process.