The main purpose of this study was to form cold sprayed copper coatings on A 516 low carbon steel, which is considered a prospective material for manufacturing used nuclear fuel containers. The 3 mm-thick Cu coatings were formed using the high pressure cold spray method with N 2 as the propellant gas. To increase the adhesion strength of the deposited coatings a copper sublayer was formed first, using He as the propellant gas. The deformation of copper particles during the deposition process was studied. The obtained SEM images of the Cu layer-A 516 low carbon steel substrate cross-sections demonstrated that the Cu sublayer had a dense microstructure, and local jet-metallic mixing areas. The Cu particles were deformed considerably more severely in the sub-layer than in the following layers. The steel substrate underwent severe deformation due to the impact of Cu particles. The mutual severe deformation of Cu particles and steel substrate resulted in a considerable increase of adhesion strength up to 120MPa. The structure of coatings and coating-substrate interface was studied by OIM, SEM and EDS.

To fully understand particle interactions with both substrate and neighboring particles, Finite Element Analysis (FEM) of particle agglomeration impact onto substrate was developed. To investigate particle/particle bonding mechanism, two dimensional models for various initial densities of deposited stainless steel particles has been built. In the model the stainless steel powder was deposited onto copper substrate. The results obtained from simulations show the influence of particle agglomeration density on stress and strain state. Both plastic strains, stresses and dynamics of the process has been investigated. The model was verified and compared with metallographic structures of real coatings.