Effect of SiC Particle Size on Microstructure and Properties of Cold Sprayed Al5056/SiC Composite Coatings

In the present investigation, Al5056 alloy-based metal matrix composites with different sizes of SiC particles were prepared by cold spraying. The average particle diameters of the used SiC feedstocks varied from 1.64 µm to 66.94 µm. Results show that varying the SiC size influences significantly the deposition efficiency of the composite coating. It is hard to deposit Al5056/SiC composite coatings with the SiC of several micrometers. Therefore, there could exist a critical particle size of SiC for the composite deposition by cold spraying. Besides, the size of the SiC reinforcement has a remarkable influence on the microstructure and properties of the composite coatings.