Toolpaths for cold spray additive manufacturing

Cold spray additive manufacturing allows large metallic components to be built at deposition rates of kilograms per hour. Use of a cold spray gun in combination with computer-controlled robots allows a new level of automation in additive manufacturing. However, a limitation of commercial, high pressure cold spray systems is that the powder feed cannot be turned on and off instantaneously, but rather entails a lag. Jumps movements from one location to another without material deposition also result in a loss in productivity. A way of overcoming this is to design toolpaths which are unbroken and do not self-intersect, allowing material deposition to take place continuously. Another consideration is the inertial effect of moving large masses at high speed. This can be addressed by minimizing the number and severity of turns. Here we describe our slicing algorithm, which is currently being tested to produce complex shapes by cold spray with dual, coordinated robots