This study investigates the effect of nozzle material on cold sprayed aluminum coatings produced using a downstream lateral injection system. It is shown through experimentation that nozzle material has a significant impact on deposition efficiency and particle velocity. It is proposed that the effects are related to complex interactions between particles and internal nozzle walls. The results obtained lead to the conclusion that nozzles with higher thermal diffusivity transfer more heat to particles when they make contact with internal surfaces, which increases deposition efficiency even though particle velocities are reduced.

In this study, cold spay particle impact behavior of a typical copper material is examined using ABAQUS finite element analysis software. Various combinations of calculation settings are explored, such as element type, adaptive meshing, contact interaction, and material damage, with the main focus on element distortion and its effect on output. The influence of mesh size on modeling accuracy is also discussed as are fundamental aspects of modeling cold spray particle deformation.

Spurred on by the initial success of cold spray applications, a wide range of industrial sectors have since shown a tremendous interest in the youngest of the thermal spray processes. The forerunner, oxide-free copper coatings, paved the way for a variety of materials to be successfully sprayed at the Linde Technology Centre in Munich. At the same time, the hardware for cold spraying also underwent rapid development. This now means that new materials can be processed with the highest efficiency and quality possible, using lower-cost nitrogen rather than helium which is decidedly more expensive.