Cold spray additive manufacturing of space and aviation components

In space and aviation industry, materials with high strength to weight ratios along with properties such as excellent tensile strength, fatigue strength and fracture toughness in combination with low specific weight are needed. However there are specific parts such as launcher propulsion system components, where the focus of the properties are on heat conductivity, mechanical strength at elevated temperatures and dissimilar material combinations.

The manufacturing of highly complex components such as combustion chambers is straight forward by using cold spray process. While using Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing (CSAM) technology, it is possible to create a combustion chamber (used materials: high-strength Cu alloy and for outer jacket Inconel) without restrictions in terms of size and with properties that are superior to the AM process. Looking at the deposition rates of about 10 kg/h for Cu-alloy and 6.7 kg/h for Inconel the process is very economic, concerning manufacturing speed. Additionally, the CSAM process is known for very high deposition efficiencies (DE), in the discussed example values of 99% for Cu-alloy and of 79% for Inconel were measured and this also reduces the production costs compared to other AM technologies significantly.

Cold spraying is also a cost-effective technique for repairing and restoring industrial application products to refurbish and reuse the damaged parts. The properties of cold spraying for the deposition of materials in the solid state make it an attractive method for repairing / restoration, while maintaining the unique properties of the original components or improving the properties of the repaired components by depositing essential materials, especially in regard to corrosion and wear resistance.