Numerical Simulations of the High-Velocity Impact of a Single Polymer Particle During Cold-Spray Deposition

In this paper, deposition of polymer powders was studied numerically for the cold-spray deposition technique. In cold spray, a solid particle is impacted on a substrate at high velocity. The deformation and heating upon impact have been shown to be enough to result in particle deposition and adhesion even without melting the particle. Here, a systematic analysis of a single high-density polyethylene particle impacting a semi-infinite high-density polyethylene substrate was carried out for initial velocities ranging between 150 and 250 m/s using the finite element analysis software ABAQUS Explicit. A series of numerical simulations were performed to study the effect of a number of key parameters on the particle impact dynamics. These key parameters include particle impact velocity, particle temperature, particle diameter, composition of the polyethylene particle, surface composition and the thickness of a polyethylene film on a hard metal substrate. The effect of these parameter variations on the particle impact dynamics were quantified by tracking the particle temperature, deformation, plastic strain and rebound kinetic energy. The trends observed through variation of these parameters provided physical insight into the experimentally observed window of deposition where cold-sprayed particles are mostly likely to adhere to a substrate.     

Optimization of Cold Spray Deposition of High-Density Polyethylene Powders

When a solid, ductile particle impacts a substrate at sufficient velocity, the resulting heat, pressure and plastic deformation can produce bonding between the particle and the substrate. The use of a cool supersonic gas flow to accelerate these solid particles is known as cold spray deposition. The cold spray process has been commercialized for some metallic materials, but further research is required to unlock the exciting potential material properties possible with polymeric particles. In this work, a combined computational and experimental study was employed to study the cold spray deposition of high-density polyethylene powders over a wide range of particle temperatures and impact velocities. Cold spray deposition of polyethylene powders was demonstrated across a range broad range of substrate materials including several different polymer substrates with different moduli, glass and aluminum. A material-dependent window of successful deposition was determined for each substrate as a function of particle temperature and impact velocity. Additionally, a study of deposition efficiency revealed the optimal process parameters for high-density polyethylene powder deposition which yielded a deposition efficiency close to 10% and provided insights into the physical mechanics responsible for bonding while highlighting paths toward future process improvements.     

基于稳定最大应变的冷喷涂粒子临界速度预测

利用ABAQUS显式有限元分析软件,对冷喷涂铜粒子与铜基体的碰撞过程进行了欧拉法数值分析.结果表明,欧拉模型可有效模拟冷喷涂粒子碰撞变形行为,粒子撞击基体形貌的模拟结果与试验观察吻合较好.在不同碰撞速度下,最大等效塑性应变均会快速上升并达到各自稳定值,并且在290～400 m/s内稳定等效应变最大值基本不变,但随着粒子速度增加,粒子扁平化程度、与基体结合面积与金属射流量均明显增加.最后,结合金属射流形貌与等效塑性应变稳定最大值的变化规律,提出了一种冷喷涂粒子临界速度预测的新方法,计算获得了20 μm铜粒子冷喷涂临界速度约为290m/s.     

Impact of high velocity cold spray particles

This article presents experimental data and a computational model of the cold spray solid particle impact process. Copper particles impacting onto a polished stainless steel substrate were examined in this study. The high velocity impact causes significant plastic deformation of both the particle and the substrate, but no melting was observed. The plastic deformation exposes clean surfaces that, under the high impact pressures, result in significant bond strengths between the particle and substrate. Experimental measurements of the splat and crater sizes compare well with the numerical calculations. It was shown that the crater depth is significant and increases with impact velocity. However, the splat diameter is much less sensitive to the impact velocity. It was also shown that the geometric lengths of the splat and crater scale linearly with the diameter of the impacting particle. The results presented will allow a better understanding of the bonding process during cold spray.     

Study of the Influence of Particle Velocity on Adhesive Strength of Cold Spray Deposits

The adhesion mechanism of deposit/substrate interface prepared by the cold spray method is not fully understood at present. It seems that the adhesion strength is mainly determined by the mechanical (including the plastic deformation of particle and substrate) and thermal interaction between particle and substrate when the particles impact onto the substrate with a high velocity. In order to understand the adhesion mechanism, a novel adhesive strength test was developed to measure the higher bonding strength of cold sprayed coatings in this study. The method breaks through the limits imposed by glue strength in the conventional adhesive strength test, and it can be used to measure the coatings with a higher adhesive strength. The particle velocity was obtained with DPV-2000?measurement and CFD simulation. The relationships between the adhesion strength of deposits/substrate interface and particle velocity were discussed. The results show that stronger adhesion strength can be obtained with the increase of particle velocity. There are two available ways to improve the adhesion strength. One is to increase the temperature of working gas, and another is to employ helium gas as the working gas instead of nitrogen gas.     

Diagnostics of Cold-Sprayed Particle Velocities Approaching Critical Deposition Conditions

In cold spraying, the impact particle velocity plays a key role for successful deposition. It is well known that only those particles can achieve successful bonding which have an impact velocity exceeding a particular threshold. This critical velocity depends on the thermomechanical properties of the impacting particles at impacting temperature. The latter depends on the gas temperature in the torch but also on stand-off distance and gas pressure. In the past, some semiempirical approaches have been proposed to estimate particle impact and critical velocities. Besides that, there are a limited number of available studies on particle velocity measurements in cold spraying. In the present work, particle velocity measurements were performed using a cold spray meter, where a laser beam is used to illuminate the particles ensuring sufficiently detectable radiant signal intensities. Measurements were carried out for INCONEL^® alloy 718-type powders with different particle sizes. These experimental investigations comprised mainly subcritical spray parameters for this material to have a closer look at the conditions of initial deposition. The critical velocities were identified by evaluating the deposition efficiencies and correlating them to the measured particle velocity distributions. In addition, the experimental results were compared with some values estimated by model calculations.     

Cold Gas-Sprayed Deposition of Metallic Coatings onto Ceramic Substrates Using Laser Surface Texturing Pre-treatment

Cold spraying enables a variety of metals dense coatings onto metal surfaces. Supersonic gas jet accelerates particles which undergo with the substrate plastic deformation. Different bonding mechanisms can be created depending on the materials. The particle–substrate contact time, contact temperature and contact area upon impact are the parameters influencing physicochemical and mechanical bonds. The resultant bonding arose from plastic deformation of the particle and substrate and temperature increasing at the interface. The objective was to create specific topography to enable metallic particle adhesion onto ceramic substrates. Ceramic did not demonstrate deformation during the impact which minimized the intimate bonds. Laser surface texturing was hence used as prior surface treatment to create specific topography and to enable mechanical anchoring. Particle compressive states were necessary to build up coating. The coating deposition efficiency and adhesion strength were evaluated. Textured surface is required to obtain strong adhesion of metallic coatings onto ceramic substrates. Consequently, cold spray coating parameters depend on the target material and a methodology was established with particle parameters (diameters, velocities, temperatures) and particle/substrate properties to adapt the surface topography. Laser surface texturing is a promising tool to increase the cold spraying applications.     

中国冷喷涂研究进展

冷喷涂是通过高速固态颗粒依次与固态基体碰撞后、经过适当的变形牢固结合在基体表面而依次沉积形成沉积层的方法.其关键技术是控制不同材料粒子的速度超过其相应的临界速度.文中总结了中国冷喷涂研究的进展.10年来,中国对冷喷涂的研究有了长足进展,发表的论文数量从2000年1篇增加到2007年的28篇.在冷喷涂设备系统研究的基础上,研究工作的基本方法包括数值模拟和试验研究两个方面.当前中国冷喷涂涂层沉积研究基本处于国际前沿,实现了多种金属合金材料、金属间化合物、金属陶瓷与陶瓷涂层的沉积.涂层不仅可以用作保护涂层,还可以用作功能涂层,具有钎料功能的涂层可以通过冷喷涂预制钎料而为钎焊作准备,关于涂层的结合、涂层内颗粒之间的结合、涂层沉积过程规律与组织结构的控制等相关的基础研究还有待于深入开展.     

Effect of Mesh Resolution on the Particle Deformation during Cold Spraying by Eulerian Formulation

Numerical simulations focusing on the impacting behavior of cold sprayed particles were usually conducted by the Lagrangian formulation.However,the calculated outputs were much dependent on the meshing size owing to the excessive element distortion.Therefore,the Eulerian formulation becomes attractive,because it can avoid the extreme distortion of elements.In the present study,a copper particle impact on the same material substrate in cold spraying was simulated using the Eulerian formulation available in the ABAQUS software(Ver 6.8).The dependency of the calculated outputs on the meshing resolution were detailedly investigated.Results show that the meshing resolution not only has an effect on the shape of the deformed particle,but also it can significantly influence the maximum plastic strain and temperature under a given impact velocity.In addition,the copper particle deformation process at the critical velocity of 310 m/s shows that a jet composed of both of the particle and substrate materials can be formed and gets elongated with the impact time.     

Particle Bonding Mechanism in Cold Gas Dynamic Spray: A Three-Dimensional Approach

Cold gas dynamic spray (CGDS) is a surface coating process that uses highly accelerated particles to form the surface coating. In the CGDS process, metal particles with a diameter of 1-50 µm are carried by a gas stream at high pressure (typically 20-30 atm) through a de Laval-type nozzle to achieve supersonic velocity upon impact onto the substrate. Typically, the impact velocity ranges between 300 and 1200 m/s in the CGDS process. When the particle is accelerated to its critical velocity, which is defined as the minimum in-flight velocity at which it can deposit on the substrate, adiabatic shear instabilities will occur. Herein, to ascertain the critical velocities of different particle sizes on the bonding efficiency in CGDS process, three-dimensional numerical simulations of single particle deposition process were performed. In the CGDS process, one of the most important parameters which determine the bonding strength with the substrate is particle impact temperature. It is hypothesized that the particle will bond to the substrate when the particle’s impacting velocity surpasses the critical velocity, at which the interface can achieve 60% of the melting temperature of the particle material (Ref 1, 2). Therefore, critical velocity should be a main parameter on the coating quality. Note that the particle critical velocity is determined not only by its size, but also by its material properties. This study numerically investigates the critical velocity for the particle deposition process in CGDS. In the present numerical analysis, copper (Cu) was chosen as particle material and aluminum (Al) as substrate material. The impacting velocities were selected between 300 and 800 m/s increasing in steps of 100 m/s. The simulation result reveals temporal and spatial interfacial temperature distribution and deformation between particle(s) and substrate. Finally, a comparison is carried out between the computed results and experimental data.     

冷喷涂TC4涂层临界沉积速度计算及制备涂层性能研究

目的研究冷喷涂TC4涂层的临界沉积速度及粒子温度对临界沉积速度的影响规律,并研究气体压强对沉积涂层性能的影响规律。方法理论研究上,采用有限元LS-DYNA软件中的Johnson-Cook塑性模型,选取3D164计算单元建立模型,研究粒子在不同温度和不同速度下碰撞基体后的形貌特征,确定粒子沉积临界速度。试验研究上,采用N_2作为冷喷涂驱动气体,在TC4合金上制备TC4涂层,然后采用SEM、Image J图像分析软件、硬度计等分析已沉积涂层的孔隙率和硬度等性能。结果 25、400、500、600℃温度下,计算表明10μm的TC4合金粒子在TC4基板上的临界沉积速度分别为730、465、392、361 m/s,即随粒子温度升高,粒子临界沉积速度降低,粒子沉积成涂层更容易。采用冷喷涂工艺在TC4基板上沉积TC4涂层,在N_2温度600℃、气体压力3 MPa的条件下,制备的TC4涂层厚度约1000μm,与TC4钛合金基体结合紧密,涂层孔隙率约为6.46%。结论气体温度升高,粒子临界沉积速度降低;气体压强变大,制备的涂层厚度就大且更加致密。     

Influence of Spray Materials and Their Surface Oxidation on the Critical Velocity in Cold Spraying

The critical velocity is an important parameter in cold spraying, which determines the deposition efficiency under a given spray condition. The critical velocity depends not only on materials types, but also on particle temperature and oxidation conditions. In the present paper, three types of materials including copper, 316L stainless steel, Monel alloy were used to deposit coatings by cold spraying. The critical velocities of spray materials were determined using a novel measurement method. The oxygen content in the three powders was changed by isothermal oxidation at ambient atmosphere. The effect of oxygen content on the critical velocity was examined. It was found that the critical velocity in cold spray was significantly influenced by particle oxidation condition besides materials properties. The critical velocity of Cu particles changed from about 300 m/s to over 610 m/s with the change of oxygen content in powder. It is evident that the materials properties influence the critical velocity more remarkable at low oxygen content than at high oxygen content. The results suggest that with a severely oxidized powder the critical velocity tends to be dominated by oxide on the powder surface rather than materials properties.     

Effect of different incidence angles on bonding performance in cold spraying

The deformation behaviour of spray particles impacting upon a substrate under the oblique impact condition in cold spraying was investigated using finite element analysis(FEA)method.The effect of incidence angle of particle on the deformation of particle and substrate was examined.It is found that the contact area between the deformed particle and substrate decreases and the crater depth in the substrate reduces with increasing the tilting angle at the same impact velocity.The normal component of impact velocity takes an important role in the impacting process and formation of bonding.     

Prediction of Critical Velocity During Cold Spraying Based on a Coupled Thermomechanical Eulerian Model

In cold spraying (CS), critical velocity of particles is one of the most important parameters. The impacting particle and substrate inevitably undergo a strong thermomechanical coupling process at the contacting interface and serious plastic deformation in a very short time. In this paper, a coupled thermomechanical Eulerian (CTM-Eulerian) model was, for the first time, developed for CS particles to investigate plastic deformation and heat conduction within the bulk, and to predict the critical velocity. Results show that heat conduction has a significant effect on the temperature distribution within the particle which will influence the atom diffusion at the impacting interface, while a little influence on plastic deformation. Moreover, based on the deformed particle shapes and plastic strain analysis, a calculated critical velocity of about 300 m/s for copper is obtained. Finally, this CTM-Eulerian model is extended to other commonly sprayed materials and the predicted critical velocities of Fe, Ni, SS304, Al, In718, and TC4 are about 350, 380, 395, 410, 490, and 500 m/s, respectively.     

Fe粒子参数对低温超音速火焰喷涂层构建的影响

应用LS-DYNA大应变有限元耦合算法,研究了低温超音速火焰喷涂Fe粒子参数对喷涂层构建的影响.结果表明,随着粒子温度或者速度的升高,粒子所含内能的增加,使得涂层界面温度不断升高,粒子的沉积塑性应变发生变化.粒子在不同基体上的沉积特征表明基体硬度将影响沉积粒子与基体界面的结合状态.随着涂层的构成,后续粒子对已沉积粒子的高速撞击使得先沉积的粒子产生二次塑性变形,并引发温变.先沉积的粒子塑性变形引起的粗化作用将降低后续粒子沉积的临界速度.这些将导致涂层在拉应力作用下发生脆性断裂.     

基于SPH的超音速火焰喷涂WC-12Co粒子速度对其沉积行为的影响

目的 以超音速火焰喷涂过程为基础,探究粒子撞击速度对粒子在基体上沉积行为的影响。方法 应用SPH方法,模拟分析WC-12Co粒子速度在400～800 m/s内,单个粒子在相同基体上的沉积行为。结果 粒子撞击速度与粒子扁平率、粒子基体结合面积、结合方式等有密切关系。随着粒子撞击速度的增加,基坑深度持续增大至最小深度的4.6倍,金属射流对提高粒子扁平化程度及粒子与基体的有效结合面积起到促进作用,总接触面积最大可达到原有效接触面积的2.7倍。撞击速度的提升使得有效塑性应变及应变区域增加,形变区域增大。同时,结合面温升总体增加,增强了粒子与基体的结合条件。沉积过程存在能量耗散,初始能量的提高有利于粒子与基体总能量的增加,强化了压实效应,进一步促进粒子与基体的结合。结论 在数值模拟选取的范围内,超音速火焰喷涂WC-12Co粒子的撞击速度越高,粒子与基体的结合状态越好。     

基体表面粗糙度对冷喷涂粒子沉积过程影响的物质点法数值分析

目的 解决有限元法模拟冷喷涂粒子沉积过程时存在的网格畸变等问题,并探讨粒子和粗糙基板的结合方式。方法 基于物质点法建立冷喷涂粒子沉积的仿真模型。利用FORTRAN语言自编程序对铜粒子冷喷涂铜基板的过程进行仿真分析,并与其他研究中的试验结果进行对照,结果吻合较好,表明物质点法模拟冷喷涂粒子沉积问题是可行且有效的。此外,分析基体表面粗糙度对粒子沉积过程的影响规律,并探讨粒子在不同位置沉积的结合机理。结果 随着表面粗糙度的增大,粒子扁平化趋势增大,回弹动能减小。表面粗糙度足够大时,粒子射流可能和基板形成机械咬合结构;粒子在波谷处沉积时受两侧波峰作用难以扁平化,但是凹坑深度增大,回弹动能减小,粒子基板结合强度增大;粒子在左侧半腰处沉积时,其在切向速度分量作用下与右侧波峰形成二次接触,形成了较长的射流。结论 粒子与基板的结合强度随着表面粗糙度的增大而增大。粒子在波峰处可以形成机械咬合结构;在波谷处凹坑深度增大、回弹动能减小,起填充作用;在半腰处能够与右侧波峰产生二次接触,增大结合强度。研究结果可为冷喷涂工艺生产提供一定指导。     

Deposition Features of Ti Coating Using Irregular Powders in Cold Spray

The investigation on the deposition features of irregular Ti powders coated on Al and stainless steel (SS) substrates was conducted in this study. Ti coating was experimentally produced at different gas inlet temperatures, and then detailed analysis on the critical velocity, coating microstructure, porosity, and microhardness was performed. As an assistant method, numerical simulation was also adopted to study the deformation features of single-irregular Ti particle during the cold spray process. The results reveal that the critical velocity of Ti particle on Al substrate is higher than that on SS substrate due to the different substrate hardness. The coating porosity is shown to be decreasing as the inlet temperature increases and independent to the substrate material. Similar phenomenon is also noticed for coating microstructure, but the changing trend is reverse in this case. Finally, the most important finding is that an additional torque imposed on the irregular particle is generated during the deposition process, which tends to detach the bonded particle from the substrate surface.     

Laser Shock Flier Impact Simulation of Particle-Substrate Interactions in Cold Spray

Coating-substrate adhesion in cold spray is a paramount property, the mechanisms of which are not yet well elucidated. To go into these mechanisms, due to the intrinsic characteristics of the cold spray process (particle low-temperature and high velocity) direct observation and control of inflight particles and related phenomena cannot be done easily. For this reason, an experimental simulation of the particle-substrate reactions at the particle impingement was developed. This simulation is based on original flier impact experiments from laser shock acceleration. Relevant interaction phenomena were featured and studied as a function of shearing, plastic deformation, phase transformation primarily. These phenomena were shown to be similar to those involved in cold spray. This was ascertained by the study of the Cu-Al metallurgically reactive system using SEM, TEM, EPMA, and energy balance and diffusion calculations. This simulation could also be used to feed finite element modeling of cold spray and laser shock flier impact.     

高速低温喷涂气固作用行为及喷涂系统研究进展

高速低温喷涂是利用固相或含固相的低温粉末在高速度、高动能作用下碰撞基体表面沉积的喷涂方法,具有氧化轻微、 结合牢固、组织致密、综合力学性能优异等潜在优势,在高性能金属或金属基复合材料涂层制备、增材制造和零件损伤修复等领域获得广泛关注。以粉末低温高速碰撞沉积过程为主线,凝练现有冷喷涂和低温超音速火焰喷涂两种具体工艺的共性特征,阐明喷涂气流与粉末颗粒的气固两相交互作用规律,分析出合理调控颗粒温度和速度是改善沉积体性能的关键。其次分析高速低温喷涂设备系统的构成,详细讨论各核心部件的结构设计策略及对气固流动行为的影响,总结出通过调整工艺参数与喷枪结构,可以实现颗粒温度和速度的按需控制。最后,对高速低温喷涂工艺及设备系统发展目前尚存的关键问题进行展望。总结如何通过喷涂参数与装置设计,最终达成调控沉积体性能的目的,有助于深入理解高速低温喷涂的沉积机理,对研制高性能的喷涂设备系统具有参考意义。