3D Volume Construction Methodology for Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing

Cold spray (CS) allows for forming high-quality, large 3D volume objects fast without the risk of undesirable heat effects, leading to increased interest in CS-based rapidly additive manufacturing (AM). However, by continuous powder spraying and high-pressure gas operation, cold spray additive manufacturing (CSAM) in terms of shape building is rather sensitive to operating parameters and imposes high requirements on process control. Every step of the manufacturing process therefore needs to be well conceived and planned, especially with regard to the toolpath planning and implementation. This study presents a new implementation method for CSAM to improve manufacturing accuracy and flexibility. The workflow and principles of the proposed method are explained and the strategies used for building-up various components are presented. The developed algorithms for 3D application can be well integrated into the CSAM process for tool path planning and path parameter determination. Toolpath planning and robot programming are supported and performed by applying virtual cells to simulate the automation process for the real scenario. The benchmarking tests on some basic 3D objects show acceptable shape accuracy, demonstrating that the current method can enhance the capabilities of CSAM for near-net shape construction.