Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing (CSAM) of Rocket Engine Structural Components - Challenges in Design and Manufacturing

An ultra-low cost reusable rocket engine, Prometheus is set to power Europe’s future launchers. Constructed using 3D printing technology, the core of the engine is the thrust chamber and in particular the combustion chamber. Cold Spraying (CS) was selected to spray-form the copper chamber liner and to deposit In625 for the load bearing structure (jacket).

ArianeGroup, the leader of Cold Spraying (CS) for rocket engine applications achieved decisive breakthroughs in the areas of coating and component design and stable long-term use of the process. Especially in the area of process robustness, significant development steps such as the introduction of a monitoring system for continuous in-process control and the development of a new generation of spray nozzles to minimize the so-called clogging effect could be achieved on the way to the industrialization of the cold spray process for space propulsion applications.