Mechanical material properties of coatings and additively manufactured parts while using Cold Spray Technology
In recent years, Cold Spray (CS) technology has been contemplated in many industries, e.g., aerospace, defence, electrical, automotive and energy. Cold Spray process is well known for high powder feedstock deposition efficiency and low-temperature processes leading to oxygen-free deposits. The Cold Spray process offers substantial applications, for example, in-situ structural or dimensional restoration and surface coatings to enhance corrosion, fatigue, and wear resistance. In the last few years Cold Spray also has developed to an additive manufacturing technology. The highly flexible technology assures that even parts with large dimensions, i.e., up to 2 to 3 m, can be manufactured in ambient environment.
In space industry, following materials are used very often for propulsion components: CuCrZr, In625, In718. The following paper will show latest results on intensive investigations on material properties for these three materials. All tested coatings and structures have been cold sprayed. One focus will be on thermal behaviour of these materials, the thermal expansion coefficient and the thermal conductivity will be presented. Mechanical tests will deliver results on fatigue crack grow rates as well as on fracture toughness. All materials will undergo an extended low cycle fatigue testing. Basic parameters on densities and porosities will be determined during the voluminous testing program. Finally, microstructure analysis results performed with SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) technology will give deep insights into the cold sprayed coatings and structures.