Application of cold sprayed coatings in aviation and automotive

Safety in aviation and automotive industry can be increased by application of new materials. Nowadays, new manufacturing technologies are the basis for development of innovative solution which allow to produce parts or additive features with low cost, short time and raised safety. Today different processes of thermal spraying are applied to manufacturing new elements in aviation and automotive industry. Cold spraying is the new method for deposition of coatings and additive manufacturing structures. It is the low-temperature process and different metallic or metallic-ceramic materials can be applied to obtain coatings with properties unattainable with other techniques. Titanium with high strength to weight ratio and very good corrosion resistance is the material may be applied in many branches of aerospace and automotive industry. This paper shows microstructure of a cold sprayed titanium coating. The coatings were deposited by means of a Impact Innovations 5/8 system at Kielce University of Technology. Nitrogen was used as working gas. The microstructure and chemical composition of the powders and the coatings were analyzed by means of SEM Jeol JSM-7100. The high kinetic energy of titanium powder causes their significant deformation after impact onto substrate, so particles strongly adhere to the sprayed element. Such coatings posses insignificant porosity and better mechanical properties. Moreover, no phase changes occur during the spray process, and the coating consists of crystalline titanium. Additionally, examples of application of cold spraying technology in aviation and automotive industry are presented.