Infrastructure and heavy machinery restoration enabled via spray processing: Lifecycle design, structural reclamation, and methods for evaluation

Structural reclamation is a critical design parameter for enabling low-cost, sustainable manufacturing and recovery of degraded structural metals. In addition to additive processes such as laser cladding and welding, high velocity deposition processes like thermal and cold spray are currently used for restoration of heavy machinery components, military assets, and power generation equipment, as well as in infrastructure repair – a potential lifeline for structures approaching their intended design limits.

Localized restoration, enabled by thermal or cold spray, has allowed for near full density repairs, coupled in some cases with recovery of mechanical properties. Evaluation of these restored composite structures indicates a strong influence from the interaction between substrate and coating. Standard tensile testing of coated "dogbones" supplemented with digital image correlation and acoustic emission is used here to assess the composite strength, interfacial load transfer, and strain-to-failure of several thermal and cold spray coating and substrate systems.