Impacting Behavior of Large Oxidized Copper Particles in Cold Spraying

In a previous study, it has been experimentally demonstrated that surface oxide films of metallic particles have significant influence on the properties of cold-sprayed coatings. To clearly reveal the underlying mechanism, this study focused further on the effect of particle oxidation on the deposition behavior of oxidized Cu powder. Results show that the presence of the oxide films on the particles’ surface can inhibit the plastic deformation of the particles. In addition, results concerning the morphologies and oxygen content of the rebounded particles show that the particles have experienced large plastic deformation that results in the break-up of the oxide films during the impacting process. Correspondingly, the hardness of the coating deposited with the oxidized powder is a little lower than that with the annealed powder because of the inferior plastic deformation and strain-hardening effect.