Abstract
In cold spraying, coatings are formed by a high velocity impact of solid particles. The particles are accelerated in a supersonic gas jet at temperatures of only a few hundred degrees centigrade. In contrast to thermal spray processes no melting of the particles and negligible heating of the substrate occurs. A series of spray experiments with copper powders of different particle size ranges were performed to study the effect of various process parameters on microstructure and properties of the coatings. The coatings have been evaluated for their microstructure, density, oxygen content, hardness and bond strength. With nitrogen as process gas and a -25 +5µm powder, dense coatings were obtained within a broad range of gas inlet pressure and gas inlet temperature.
