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.