3 - Comparing cold spray with thermal spray coating technologies

Abstract

Cold spray has many similarities to traditional thermal spray processes. However, there are important fundamental differences that make the cold spray process and the resulting cold-sprayed materials highly unique. In some applications, the unique features of cold spray offer significant advantages, overcoming inherent limitations of traditional thermal spray processes. In other applications, more traditional processes might offer superior capability and performance. To identify the best potential applications for cold spray, it is important to understand the similarities and differences between cold spray and traditional thermal spray alternatives. This chapter provides a high-level overview of spray process technologies and discusses important similarities and differences between cold spray and traditional thermal spray. Cold spray is still an emerging, yet very promising technology. In some applications, it offers a way to overcome important limitations of traditional thermal spray technologies such as the ability to maintain the feedstock material chemical composition in the resultant coating with little to no impurities and the ability to deposit structural coatings as well as additive manufactured parts. However, cold spray is more limited in the range of materials and substrates that are process compatible, and currently there are limited applications and a growing list of coating property data available for cold-sprayed materials as compared to materials sprayed with traditional thermal spray processes.