Cold Spray Low-Friction Composite Metal-Solid Lubricant Coatings

nbsp;In Phase II, Applied Tungstenite will further explore the cold spray deposition settings and coating compositions to develop a set of coatings that are ready for providing to our customers.In addition to further refining coatings based on the metals studied in Phase I, Applied Tungstenite will expand the trade space to include other base metals, to produce coatings with optimal materials properties, and to match them to different substrate materials. Other variables that will continue to be explored are feedstock particle size and shape, application temperature and pressure, and coating technique. The effect of varying these parameters will be evaluated in friction and wear measurements.When down selection to the most promising coatings is achieved, Applied Tungstenite will perfect the production line including substrate cleaning, surface pre-treatment, spraying, and finishing to achieve the desired results and compile them into work instructions.In Phase II of this project, it is expected that several types and compositions of Cold Spray coatings will be brought to TRL 6, ready for application to relevant spacecraft components, and for marketing to select customers, including NASA, as well as military and commercial entities.A list of specific technical objectives follows: develop of in-house Cold Spray capability, improve on subcontractorrsquo;s (ASB Industries) initial growth attempts, coating thickness measurement/control, composition measurement/control, correlate feedstock composition to coating composition to coating properties and tribological performance, determine composition variation with coating depth, tribology measurements to correlate performance with coating properties (composition, thickness, Cold Spray pressure/temperature), determine other coating properties/adherence to specification, measure hardness/elastic modulus using micro-indentation techniques, corrosion Testing, adhesion/Cohesion strength, coating porosity, and abrasion resistance.