Deposition of metallic coatings on polymer surfaces using cold spray

Current coating technologies such as plasma spray, High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) or laser cladding involve the delivery of molten materials during the deposition process. However, such techniques are not well suited to the deposition of metallic coatings on polymers and composites. Cold spray (CS) has attracted much industrial interest over the past two decades. In this method, a material in powder form is accelerated on passage through a converging-diverging nozzle to high speeds via a high pressure coaxial carrier gas jet. The high impact kinetic energy deforms the particles, which creates effective bonding to the substrate. This paper presents the results of an initial study on the potential of the CS process to produce metallic coatings on non-metallic surfaces such as polymers and composites for engineering applications. Experimental and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) results when spraying copper, aluminium and tin powder on a range of substrates such as PC/ABS, polyamide-6, polypropylene, polystyrene and a glass-fibre composite material are presented and analyzed. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.