Impact of high velocity cold spray particles

This article presents experimental data and a computational model of the co ld spray solid particle impact process. Copper particles impacting onto a p olished stainless steel substrate were examined in this study. The high vel ocity impact causes significant plastic deformation of both the particle an d the substrate, but no melting was observed. The plastic deformation expos es clean surfaces that, under the high impact pressures, result in signific ant bond strengths between the particle and substrate. Experimental measure ments of the splat and crater sizes compare well with the numerical calcula tions. It was shown that the crater depth is significant and increases with impact velocity. However, the splat diameter is much less sensitive to the impact velocity. It was also shown that the geometric lengths of the splat and crater scale linearly with the diameter of the impacting particle. The results presented will allow a better understanding of the bonding process during cold spray.