Effect of Process Parameters and Heat Treatments on Properties of Cold Sprayed Copper Coatings

Cold gas dynamic spraying or cold spray is specifically suitable to obtain high-conductivity copper coatings for a variety of applications. Copper coatings at different coating parameters were deposited and subjected to various post treatments. The effect of process parameters and the treatment conditions on coating properties such as electrical conductivity, porosity, microhardness etc., was studied. The as-coated specimens exhibited low conductivities and conductivity was found to improve with heat treatment. Treatments were carried out in vacuum at different temperatures and for different durations and conductivities close to bulk annealed copper were achieved. Good correlation was observed between the conductivity, porosity and hardness of the as-coated and heat-treated specimens. Similar correlations were observed between conductivity-porosity and hardness-porosity of the coatings and the relative influence of cold work and porosity on coating properties was determined.