Analysis of single spray beads prepared using low-pressure cold spraying

Abstract

Cold spraying is a coating deposition method for the production of high-quality metallic coatings. Copper, for instance, is widely used as a coating material due to its suitability for cold spray process. Cold-sprayed copper coatings are known to have interesting technical properties such as high electrical and thermal conductivity. Low-pressure cold spraying (LPCS) is a cold spray technique of preparing relatively dense and pure copper coatings. The deposition behaviour of low-pressure cold-sprayed spherical and dendritic copper particles impacting the substrate was evaluated in this study. The effect of powder type was clearly detected in the observations of single spray beads. Higher deposition efficiency and denser coatings were prepared by using the spherical copper powder.

Keywords:

• LPCS
• Copper
• Deposition
• Powder
• Splats
• Thickness

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mr. Mikko Kylmälahti, of Tampere University of Technology, Department of Materials Science, for spraying the coating samples. The authors would also like to thank Mr. Sakari Tolvanen, of Tampere University of Technology, Department of Materials Science, for measuring the particle velocities. This study was funded by the Academy of Finland.

Notes

This paper is part of a special issue on cold spray technology