High Pressure Liquid Accelerated Cold Spray

This proposal introduces a novel Direct Manufacturing process for making high performance components and coatings. This process has the potential to overcome many of the limitations of current technology and may make it possible to manufacture production quantity and quality parts directly from powder, minimizing material waste, reducing overall manufacturing costs and dramatically reducing lead time for new and replacement components. This new process is a modification of the emerging gas dynamic cold spray technology where the currently used gas is replaced by a high velocity liquid to accelerate the powders. Because it is approximately 1,000 times denser than gas, the liquid is much more effective at accelerating particles. Commercially available high pressure liquid pumps can drive the particles at speeds up to 1,000 m/s, well above the critical velocity required for adhesion for many coating applications. This project will consist of a series of parameter studies to determine effective operating conditions and nozzle designs.