Multi-scale mechanical and tribological characterization techniques for development of robust cold spray coatings

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Cold spray is an innovative deposition process that holds promise for breakthrough technologies in the next century. It has the potential to provide green manufacturing methods of building up structures rather than machining down. It also has the potential to provide repair of worn or corroded engineering surfaces in the field. Repairing on site at a mine or forestry site would provide huge cost saving and reduce environmental impact associated with transport of heavy machinery. With all of this promise and potential, the cold spray technology is still very new and materials fabricated by it are still poorly understood. Like any new manufacturing method, there needs to be significant background knowledge generated about the effect of process conditions on the material structure and properties and ultimately the performance in an engineering application. This proposal is on an innovative multi-scale testing methodology that will provide data on the mechanical and tribological properties of cold sprayed material. By testing at different length scales, we will discover the mechanisms that lead to the bulk performance. With this knowledge, the process can be optimized to obtain materials with robust mechanical and tribological properties. The main outcomes of the study will be twofold. First a significant library of information will be obtained quickly on a range of materials, including their sprayability and material properties. Second, the multi-scale test methodology will be demonstrated such that small-scale tests are directly calibrated to bulk performance. Engineers using cold spray may then have the option to use small-scale tests to monitor the effect process variables have on material properties. In summary, this proposal details an innovative materials science approach for determining mechanical and tribological properties of cold spray coatings and seeks to optimize process conditions for a range of materials to make the most robust coatings possible.