Novel Processed Cold Spray Refractory Coatings for High Value Asset Applications

The US Department of Defense (DOD) utilizes refractory metal coatings to enhance the performance and extend the service lifetime of critical, high-value assets such as Gun Barrels (GB) and Leading-edges, for erosion protection. Unfortunately, many of these  refractory metal coatings are brittle in nature and this limits their service life. Thus, VRC proposes the novel Plasma Arc Heat-Treating (PAH) method for effectively heat treating GB Tantalum cold spray coatings and Leading-edge Niobium cold spray coatings to enhance their performance. The proposed Phase 1 work will mature VRC’s developed PAH technology and reduce the risk level of implementing this novel process in VRC’s cold spray systems and demonstrating the in-situ PAH treatment of cold spray coatings for advanced performance.