Cold Spray Deposition of Pure Titanium Coating Onto High Strength Substrate With Ultra-High Bond Strength

Abstract Cold spray (CS) is a relatively new spray coating technology which has opened up a new avenue for deposition of bulk coatings with a thickness in the millimeter range. The unique bonding mechanism of the CS process facilitates deposition of commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti) on a wide range of substrates including high strength alloys. In this paper we present a multi-stage bond coat deposition process using a mixture of ultra-hard ceramic beads and CP-Ti prior to the top CP-Ti coating deposition to produce a coating layer with promising bond strength. In addition, three combinations of the carrier gas temperature (450, 540, and 550 °C), and pressure (2.5 and 3.8 MPa) were considered for maximizing bond strength. The relationship between bond strength and surface roughness was also examined. The shear test results indicated a significant high bond strength of approximately 195 MPa for the gas pressure of 3.8 MPa and temperature of 450 °C owing to the newly introduced bond coat deposition method. The relatively high bond strength is explained by the beneficial effect of multi-stage bond coat prior to the deposition of the bond coat. The results also indicated a tradeoff between bond strength and obtained surface roughness.