Analysis of Bonding Features between the Particles and the Substrate during Cold Spraying

Cold spraying is a new coating process and manufacturing technology. The coating quality is upgraded with dense layers, higher bonding force and lower oxidation comparing with thermal spraying. Bonding of particles onto substrate is a result of extensive plastic deformation and related phenomena at the interface. The cold-sprayed copper and aluminum deposits on aluminum and steel substrates were prepared, and the features of interface were observed by using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Then the particle/substrate impact process was modeling through finite-element methods (ANSYS/LS-DYNA software). Numerical results show that the high plastic strain at the interface can result in an adiabatic shear instability at the interface. Due to these extremely high pressure and strain rate, it may be more appropriate to treat the material adjacent to the particle/substrate interface as a viscous 'fluid-like' material, various fluid-based phenomena, such as interfacial instabilities and roll-ups and vortices, can lead to interface material mixing. In numerical simulation, adiabatic shear instability both in the particle and the substrate at contact interface is regarded as a criterion for predicting the optimal process parameters and the bonding feature.