Abstract
This study investigates the suitability of a sublayer-assisted low-pressure cold spraying for metallizing Carbon Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composites. The metal-based polymeric sublayer consists of a Cu-based epoxy sublayer, made of Cu spherical micron-sized powders and an epoxy phase, and which is embedded onto the CFRP composite surface using a vacuum moulding process. Then, a cold spray deposition onto the sublayer is performed to generate a coating. Different cold spray powders (copper, aluminium, zinc, and tin) were used to explore the optimal coupling powder/sublayer/CFRC substrate under different spraying conditions. The Cu powders require a high velocity so that they are difficult to be compatibilized with the CFRC structure without an erosion during the cold spray deposition. Soft powders like Al, Zn and Sn can lead to an onset of coating formation via the bonding of these powders onto the embedded sublayer. The Sn powders generate an adhesion onto the Cu-epoxy embedded sublayer via a metal-to-epoxy bonding (Sn-to-epoxy zone) and a metal-to-metal bonding (Sn-to-Cu), under the gas working condition of 9 bars and 25 °C. As conclusion, the present work demonstrates the feasibility of a sublayer-assisted cold spray process to metallize a CFRC structure partly made of metal-to-metal bonding.
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