Advanced Cold Spraying Technology

A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Characterization, Deposition and Modification".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2023) | Viewed by 27016

Special Issue Editors

Institute of New Materials, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510651, China
Interests: cold spray; thermal spray; additive manufacturing; metal coatings; metal matrix composite coatings; anti-corrosion coatings; tribological properties
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Institute of New Materials, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510651, China
Interests: cold spray; metal-matrix composites; joining processes; corrosion properties; powder processing

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Guest Editor
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Interests: metal additive manufacturing; thermal spray technology; metallic and composite coatings; micro- and nanostructure, and mechanical analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to submit your original contributions to this Special Issue “Advanced Cold Spraying Technology”. Cold spray is an advanced solid-state, powder-based coatings and additive manufacturing (AM) technology. Cold spray utilizes a high-pressure gas stream to accelerate micron-sized particles through a de Laval nozzle for supersonic speed and impact on substrates and to generate dense, high-performance deposits. Cold spray has many unique attributes (e.g., high deposition rate, high adhesion strength, solid-state bonding at low temperatures) in contrary to popular fusion-based AM techniques, thus opening up new opportunities in various niche industrial markets. After over thirty years of rapid development, cold spray technology has been successfully applied in surface repair, surface enhancement, functional coating, and additive manufacturing in many fields including the aerospace, weapon, energy and power, electronic power, medical equipment industries. The introduction of hybrid cold spray and the combination of cold spray with post-processing techniques have resolved its many inherent drawbacks (e.g., lack of ductility, insufficient cohesion) and further promoted the deployment of cold spray. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in cold spray helps to better realize toolpath and process optimization as well as process control for industrial production campaign. Finally, the supersonic projectile behaviors of micron-sized particles in cold spray allows researchers to investigate numerous fundamental materials phenomena under extreme conditions, e.g., “size effects” in mechanics, dynamic recrystallization, and phase transformation.

For this Special Issue, we welcome original research papers and review articles representing the state-of-the-art knowledge of advanced cold spray technology covering both academic and industrial aspects. Particular topics of interest include but are not limited to:

  • Cold spray additive manufacturing
  • Cold spray repair and restoration
  • Cold spray fundamentals
  • Cold spray powders
  • Cold spray of novel and functional materials
  • Hybrid cold spray and post-processing techniques
  • Artificial intelligence in cold spray

Dr. Wen Sun
Dr. Xin Chu
Dr. Adrian Wei Yee Tan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • cold spray technology
  • additive manufacturing
  • powder processing
  • functional coatings
  • fundamental aspects
  • artificial intelligence

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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10 pages, 5800 KiB  
Communication
High-Performance Pure Aluminum Coatings on Stainless Steels by Cold Spray
by Jialin Fan, Haitao Yun, Xiaoqiang Zhang, Dongxu Chang, Xin Chu, Yingchun Xie and Guosheng Huang
Coatings 2023, 13(4), 738; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings13040738 - 4 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2377
Abstract
Aluminum target material is an important target material and is widely used in preparations of semiconductor films, integrated circuits, display circuits, protective films, decorative films, etc. In this study, pure aluminum coatings were deposited on stainless steel substrates by cold-spray technology as part [...] Read more.
Aluminum target material is an important target material and is widely used in preparations of semiconductor films, integrated circuits, display circuits, protective films, decorative films, etc. In this study, pure aluminum coatings were deposited on stainless steel substrates by cold-spray technology as part of an overall project to produce large-size pure aluminum sputtering target materials. The results show that pure aluminum coatings exhibit high adhesive strength (~98 MPa), high deposition efficiency (~95%), and low porosity (~0.3%) on stainless steel substrates. The bonding mechanisms of pure aluminum coatings on stainless steel are a combination of metallurgical and mechanical interlocking. The evolutions of microstructure and mechanical properties of pure aluminum coatings under different heat treatments were also studied. With the increase of heat treatment temperature, it is found that cold-sprayed aluminum coatings become more homogenous in microstructure, the microhardness is reduced, and the adhesive strength seems to be slightly reduced. Overall, this study demonstrates significant advantages of cold-spray technology in depositing high-performance pure aluminum coatings on stainless steels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cold Spraying Technology)
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44 pages, 10027 KiB  
Review
A Review of Advances in Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing
by Rodolpho Fernando Vaz, Andrea Garfias, Vicente Albaladejo, Javier Sanchez and Irene Garcia Cano
Coatings 2023, 13(2), 267; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings13020267 - 23 Jan 2023
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 9595
Abstract
Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing (CSAM) produces freeform parts by accelerating powder particles at supersonic speed which, impacting against a substrate material, trigger a process to consolidate the CSAM part by bonding mechanisms. The literature has presented scholars’ efforts to improve CSAM materials’ quality, [...] Read more.
Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing (CSAM) produces freeform parts by accelerating powder particles at supersonic speed which, impacting against a substrate material, trigger a process to consolidate the CSAM part by bonding mechanisms. The literature has presented scholars’ efforts to improve CSAM materials’ quality, properties, and possibilities of use. This work is a review of the CSAM advances in the last decade, considering new materials, process parameters optimization, post-treatments, and hybrid processing. The literature considered includes articles, books, standards, and patents, which were selected by their relevance to the CSAM theme. In addition, this work contributes to compiling important information from the literature and presents how CSAM has advanced quickly in diverse sectors and applications. Another approach presented is the academic contributions by a bibliometric review, showing the most relevant contributors, authors, institutions, and countries during the last decade for CSAM research. Finally, this work presents a trend for the future of CSAM, its challenges, and barriers to be overcome. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cold Spraying Technology)
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14 pages, 4456 KiB  
Article
Influence of Powder Plasticity on Bonding Strength of Cold-Sprayed Copper Coating
by Fu-Jun Wei, Bang-Yen Chou, Kuan-Zong Fung, Shu-Yi Tsai and Chung-Wei Yang
Coatings 2022, 12(8), 1197; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings12081197 - 17 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1696
Abstract
When cold spraying is performed at a velocity equivalent to or greater than a specific material-dependent critical velocity, powders suffer intensive plastic deformation and localized heating of interacting surfaces. The thermomechanical reaction of the sprayed powder upon impacting the substrate material triggers thermally [...] Read more.
When cold spraying is performed at a velocity equivalent to or greater than a specific material-dependent critical velocity, powders suffer intensive plastic deformation and localized heating of interacting surfaces. The thermomechanical reaction of the sprayed powder upon impacting the substrate material triggers thermally dependent metallurgical bonding and/or mechanical interlocking mechanisms. In this study, three Cu feedstocks, fabricated through electrolysis (EP), gas-assisted water atomization (WA), and inert gas atomization (GA), were characterized and annealed before cold spraying. The electron back-scattered diffraction technique was used to analyze the grain structure and plastic microstrain within the powders and coatings. The plastic microstrains that originally existed in the Cu powders were released after 30 min of annealing at 500 °C. The influence of plastic deformation behavior (associated with the grain structure and plastic microstrain of powder feedstocks) on the bonding strength of the cold-sprayed Cu coatings on AA6061 aluminum alloy substrates was examined. The results indicate that EP powder with an asymmetric dendrite morphology was not conducive to the intensive plastic deformation that may cause recrystallized twin grains to form after cold spraying. Furthermore, the homogeneous microstructure of the spherical Cu feedstocks, which may be induced by strain release as recrystallized twin grains and low-angle boundary grain growth through annealing, caused the cold-sprayed Cu coating to have high ductility and low hardness. The findings reveal the low strain hardening and residual stress in the cold-sprayed coating—characteristics regarded as providing key advantages for the bonding strength of the coating. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cold Spraying Technology)
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15 pages, 3485 KiB  
Review
Research and Development on Cold-Sprayed MAX Phase Coatings
by Weiwei Zhang, Shibo Li, Xuejin Zhang and Xu Chen
Coatings 2023, 13(5), 869; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings13050869 - 5 May 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1866
Abstract
Cold spraying is an attractive solid-state processing technique in which micron-sized solid particles are accelerated towards a substrate at high velocities and relatively low temperatures to produce a coating through deformation and bonding mechanisms. Metal, ceramic, and polymer powders can be deposited to [...] Read more.
Cold spraying is an attractive solid-state processing technique in which micron-sized solid particles are accelerated towards a substrate at high velocities and relatively low temperatures to produce a coating through deformation and bonding mechanisms. Metal, ceramic, and polymer powders can be deposited to form functional coatings via cold spraying. MAX phase coatings deposited via cold spraying exhibit several advantages over thermal spraying, avoiding tensile residual stresses, oxidation, undesirable chemical reactions and phase decomposition. This paper presents a review of recent progress on the cold-sprayed MAX phase coatings. Factors influencing the formation of coatings are summarized and discussions on the corresponding bonding mechanisms are provided. Current limitations and future investigations in cold-sprayed MAX coatings are also listed to facilitate the industrial application of MAX phase coatings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cold Spraying Technology)
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4 pages, 189 KiB  
Editorial
Advanced Cold-Spraying Technology
by Wen Sun, Adrian Wei-Yee Tan, Xin Chu and Jian Huang
Coatings 2022, 12(12), 1986; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings12121986 - 18 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1604
Abstract
Cold-spraying technology is a solid-state, powder-based coating deposition and additive manufacturing (AM) technology, which utilises a high-pressure gas stream to accelerate micron-sized particles through a de-Laval nozzle for supersonic speed and impact on substrates and to generate dense, high-quality deposits [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cold Spraying Technology)
17 pages, 7293 KiB  
Article
Cracking Behavior of Atmospheric Plasma-Sprayed 8YSZ Thermal Barrier Coatings during Thermal Shock Test
by Jibo Huang, Wen Sun, Renzhong Huang and Wenhua Ma
Coatings 2023, 13(2), 243; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings13020243 - 20 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1927
Abstract
The failure of plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) during service is usually related to the cracking behavior. In this study, plasma-sprayed TBCs were prepared with two kinds of agglomerated sintered yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) powders with different particle sizes. The evolution of mechanical properties [...] Read more.
The failure of plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) during service is usually related to the cracking behavior. In this study, plasma-sprayed TBCs were prepared with two kinds of agglomerated sintered yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) powders with different particle sizes. The evolution of mechanical properties and crack propagation behavior of the coatings during the whole life stage were studied by a thermal shock test. The effect of powder particle size on the cracking behavior of the TBCs during thermal shock was analyzed from the aspect of pore structure, mechanical properties, and stress state of the coatings. The crack propagation and coalescence in the direction parallel to the substrate in the coating is the main factor leading to the spalling failure of the coating during thermal shock. Although the coating prepared by fine YSZ has higher fracture toughness, the lower strain tolerance will increase the cracking driving force on the crack tip of the coating during thermal shock, and the cracks in the coating propagate merge at a faster rate during thermal shock. The larger porosity and pore size of the coating prepared by coarse YSZ help the coating suffer less thermal stress during thermal shock. Although the existence of pores reduces the fracture toughness of the coating to a certain extent, the increase of strain tolerance reduces the crack growth rate in the coating, so the coating has a longer life. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cold Spraying Technology)
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14 pages, 8442 KiB  
Article
Influence of the Gas Preheating Temperature on the Microstructure and Electrical Resistivity of Copper Thin Films Prepared via Vacuum Cold Spraying
by Kai Ma, Qing-Feng Zhang, Hui-Yu Zhang, Chang-Jiu Li and Cheng-Xin Li
Coatings 2023, 13(11), 1870; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings13111870 - 31 Oct 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 936
Abstract
Vacuum cold spraying (VCS) has emerged as an environmentally sustainable method for fabricating ceramic and metal films. A high particle impact velocity is a critical factor in the deposition of metal particles during the VCS process, which can be significantly enhanced through gas [...] Read more.
Vacuum cold spraying (VCS) has emerged as an environmentally sustainable method for fabricating ceramic and metal films. A high particle impact velocity is a critical factor in the deposition of metal particles during the VCS process, which can be significantly enhanced through gas preheating. This study employs Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate the substantial impact of gas preheating temperature on particle impact velocity and temperature. Elevating the gas temperature leads to higher particle impact velocity, resulting in severe deformation and the formation of dense copper films. The experimental results indicate improvements in both film compactness and electrical properties with gas preheating. Remarkably, the electrical resistivity of the copper film deposited at a gas preheating temperature of 350 °C was measured at 4.4 × 10−8 Ω·m. This study also examines the evolution of cone-shaped pits on the surface of copper films prepared on rough substrates. VCS demonstrates a self-adaptive repair mechanism when depositing metal films onto rough ceramic substrates, making it a promising method for ceramic surface metallization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cold Spraying Technology)
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12 pages, 14874 KiB  
Communication
Effect of Ball-Milled Feedstock Powder on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Cu-Ni-Al-Al2O3 Composite Coatings by Cold Spraying
by Hongjin Liu, Mingkun Fu, Shaozhi Pang, Huaiqing Zhu, Chen Zhang, Lijun Ming, Xinyu Liu, Minghui Ding and Yudong Fu
Coatings 2023, 13(5), 948; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings13050948 - 18 May 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1521
Abstract
Cu, Ni and Al powders mixed in a certain stoichiometric proportion were ground via ball milling and deposited as coatings using low pressure cold spraying (LPCS) technology. The effect of particle morphology on the powder structure as well as the microstructure, composition and [...] Read more.
Cu, Ni and Al powders mixed in a certain stoichiometric proportion were ground via ball milling and deposited as coatings using low pressure cold spraying (LPCS) technology. The effect of particle morphology on the powder structure as well as the microstructure, composition and mechanical properties of the coatings was studied. The results revealed a core–shell structure of ball-milled powders. Compared with a mechanically mixed (MM) coating, coatings after ball milling at a rotation speed of 200 rpm exhibited the most uniform composition distribution and a lower degree of porosity (by 0.29%). Moreover, ball milling at 200 rpm was conducive to a significant increase in the deposition efficiency of the sprayed powder (by 10.89%), thereby improving the microhardness distribution uniformity. The ball milling treatment improved the adhesion of the coatings, and the adhesion of the composite coating increased to 40.29 MPa with the increase in ball milling speed. The dry sliding wear tests indicated that ball milling treatment of sprayed powder significantly improved the wear properties of the coatings. The coating after ball milling at a speed of 250 rpm showed the lowest friction coefficient and wear rate, with values of 0.41 and 2.47 × 10−12 m3/m, respectively. The wear mechanism of coatings changed from abrasive wear to adhesive wear with the increase in ball milling speed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cold Spraying Technology)
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19 pages, 8738 KiB  
Article
Influence of Remaining Oxide on the Adhesion Strength of Supersonic Particle Deposition TiO2 Coatings on Annealed Stainless Steel
by Noor irinah Omar, Yusliza Yusuf, Syahrul Azwan bin Sundi, Ilyani Akmar Abu Bakar, Verry Andre Fabiani, Toibah Abdul Rahim and Motohiro Yamada
Coatings 2023, 13(6), 1086; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings13061086 - 12 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1400
Abstract
The cold spray or Supersonic Particle Deposition technique has great potential for producing ceramic nanostructured coatings. This technique operates at a processing temperature that is low enough to preserve the initial feedstock materials’ microstructure. Nevertheless, depositing ceramic powders using a cold spray can [...] Read more.
The cold spray or Supersonic Particle Deposition technique has great potential for producing ceramic nanostructured coatings. This technique operates at a processing temperature that is low enough to preserve the initial feedstock materials’ microstructure. Nevertheless, depositing ceramic powders using a cold spray can be challenging because of the materials’ brittle nature. The interaction between substrate and particles is significantly influenced by substrate attributes, including hardness, material nature, degree of oxidation and temperature. In this study, the effect of the substrate’s remaining oxide composition on the adhesion strength of an agglomerated nano-TiO2 coating was investigated. The results showed that the coating adhesion strength increased for hard materials such as stainless steel and pure chromium as the annealed substrate temperature also increased from room temperature to 700 °C, indicating thicker oxide on the substrate surface. TiO2 particles mainly bond with SUS304 substrates through oxide bonding, which results from a chemical reaction involving TiO2-OH. Chromium oxide (Cr2O3) is thermodynamically preferred in SUS304 and provides the OH component required for the reaction. SUS304 shows a thermodynamic preference for chromium oxide (Cr2O3), and this enables Cr2O3 to provide the necessary OH component for the reaction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cold Spraying Technology)
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11 pages, 4149 KiB  
Article
Mechanical and Tribological Study on Aluminum Coatings with High-Pressure and Low-Pressure Cold-Spray Processes
by Abreeza Manap, NF Afandi, Savisha Mahalingam, Siti Nurul Akmal Yusof and Zulkifli Mohd. Rosli
Coatings 2022, 12(11), 1792; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings12111792 - 21 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1543
Abstract
Cold spray is a promising approach to repair all damages and defects in aluminum (Al) constituent elements. The study aims to investigate the mechanical and tribological properties of Al coatings deposited using high-pressure cold-spray (HPCS) and low-pressure cold-spray (LPCS) techniques. Al powder was [...] Read more.
Cold spray is a promising approach to repair all damages and defects in aluminum (Al) constituent elements. The study aims to investigate the mechanical and tribological properties of Al coatings deposited using high-pressure cold-spray (HPCS) and low-pressure cold-spray (LPCS) techniques. Al powder was sprayed on a cold-rolled plate of aluminum 1100, which was used as the substrate. The results showed that the micro-hardness of the LPCS Al coating reached up to 196.6 HV before the wear test compared to that of HPCS (174.3 HV). Moreover, more low friction coefficients obtained by LPCS (0.798) than HPCS (0.807) indicated good tribological properties with a high amount of oxide composition. Meanwhile, the wear studies reveal that the specific wear rate of the Al coating of LPCS (0.008) was lower than the HPCS (0.009) as the load increased from 3 N to 5 N, thus providing excellent wear resistance. Therefore, the results exhibited greater mechanical and tribological characteristics for Al coatings produced by the LPCS process than by the HPCS process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cold Spraying Technology)
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14 pages, 11543 KiB  
Article
Balanced Anti-Corrosion Action of Reduced Graphene Oxide in Zn-Al Coating during Medium-Term Exposure to NaCl Solution
by Qifeng Shi, Huishu Wu, Peipei Zhang, Dongsheng Wang, Jingwen Wang and Xiaohua Jie
Coatings 2023, 13(9), 1570; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings13091570 - 8 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1034
Abstract
Considering the electronegativity and shielding anti-sepsis characteristic of reduced graphene oxide (G), we design a Zn-Al coating with embedded G (Zn-G/Al) on low-carbon steel using the low-pressure cold spray (LPCS) method. In this method, G-coated Al powders ( [...] Read more.
Considering the electronegativity and shielding anti-sepsis characteristic of reduced graphene oxide (G), we design a Zn-Al coating with embedded G (Zn-G/Al) on low-carbon steel using the low-pressure cold spray (LPCS) method. In this method, G-coated Al powders (G/Al) prepared using in situ reduction and Zn powders were mixed as a raw material for spraying. Embedding G could boost the cathodic protection performance of Zn-Al (70 wt.% zinc and 30 wt.% aluminum) coating, as has been confirmed in previous work. In this work, the microstructure, composition and electrochemical parameters of Zn-G/Al coating during full immersion were measured to investigate G’s effect on the corrosion protection properties of the Zn-Al coating. The test results showed that embedded G could facilitate the generation of many corrosion products and pile on the coating surface to form a corrosion product film during full immersion. The corrosion product film on the Zn-0.2 wt.%G/Al coating surface demonstrated an excellent protective property, which reflects the fact that the Ecorr and icorr values for Zn-0.2 wt.%G/Al after 20d immersion (Ecorr = −1.143 Vvs.SCE, icorr= 49.96 μA/cm2) were lower than the initial value (Ecorr = −1.299 Vvs.SCE, icorr = 82.16 μA/cm2). It can be concluded that adding an appropriate amount of G to the coating can balance the cathodic protection and shielding property of the coating. The equilibrium mechanism was also analyzed in this work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Cold Spraying Technology)
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