Alloys with good toughness and elevated temperature properties like A201 are expensive and can be more difficult to process. This results in the use of heavier but less expensive alternatives in many applications where toughness is of concern, such as steels. Common alloys such as A356 and E357 are relatively cheap and easy to work with. However, these alloys have considerably lower toughness than premium alloys. This research aims to investigate surface modification treatments that could yield better toughness at a low cost in a common aluminum alloy. The process must show significant improvement in said properties, be cost effective, and easily adaptable in a common foundry. Diffusion of coating material into the substrate was investigated with a variety of coating metals. The diffusion process was facilitated in the solutionizing step for the given substrate aluminum in order to strengthen the sub-surface region of the parts. This research aims to provide a platform for further research into the practical effects of the coating and tempering on impact and toughness properties. These samples were characterized by optical and scanning electron microscopy, EDS, impact testing, and tensile testing.

Ti2AlC coatings have been fabricated by cold-spray deposition. The microstructure evolution as a function of basic spray parameters temperature and pressure onto AA6060 aluminium alloy and 1.0037 steel substrates has been studied. Adherent and dense 50–80 μm thick Ti2AlC coatings were deposited on soft AA6060 substrates under gas temperature and pressure of 600 °C and 3.4 MPa, respectively, whilst comparable results were obtained on harder 1.0037 steel by using higher temperature (800 °C) and pressure (3.9 MPa).

Wrought magnesium alloys are considered attractive candidates for structural members in automotive and aerospace industries due to their high specific strength. Although new processes have helped to produce high purity magnesium alloys with higher resistance to corrosion, these alloys still need protection against corrosion when they are used in aggressive environments. Cold spray coating is one of the protective methods that are employed for this purpose. The similarity between cold spray coating and shot peening process poses the question whether cold spray coating can improve the fatigue strength in addition to providing corrosion protection. The objective of this research is to answer this question for the specific case of the coating of wrought magnesium alloy AZ31B with aluminum powder. This study comprises two parts. The first part characterises the residual stress induced by cold spray coating. This investigation employs both numerical and experimental methods. For the numerical study, the cold spray coating process has been simulated via ANSYS software classic package. The numerical results have been compared to experimental results from X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) stress measurement of a coated sample. For the second part of this research, the fatigue strength of as received, stress relieved, and stress relieved/coated specimens have been compared. Three groups of AZ31B specimens have been prepared and tested by rotating bending machine and their S-N curves have been prepared. Comparison of the results reveals that there is a considerable loss in fatigue strength of as received specimens after stress relief. This is due to the removal of compressive residual stress in the raw material induced by the extrusion process. Also, comparison of S-N curves of stress relieved and stress relieved/coated specimens shows fatigue life improvement after cold spray coating. The maximum improvement is 49 percent in the load of 120 MPa and the endurance limit has improved 9 percent.

Integrally heated composite tooling (IHCT) is seen as a low cost alternative to autoclave manufacturing of polymer matrix composites (PMCs). IHCTs consist of a composite tool heated by surface heaters; temperature distribution is ensured by a thermally conductive metallic layer. The main original contributions of this thesis was the development of a new method for applying copper coatings onto carbon fibre/epoxy PMCs using pulsed gas dynamic spraying, the production of larger size samples, and the characterisation of the performance of the coatings and laminates obtained. It was shown that this method has potential for producing the thermally conductive layer in an IHCT. Another contribution was the characterisation of parameters affecting temperature distribution across IHCTs through heat transfer simulations, leading to guidelines for IHCT design.

Wrought magnesium alloys are considered attractive candidates for structural members in automotive and aerospace industries due to their high specific strength. Although new processes have helped to produce high purity magnesium alloys with higher resistance to corrosion, these alloys still need protection against corrosion when they are used in aggressive environments. Cold spray coating is one of the protective methods that are employed for this purpose. The similarity between cold spray coating and shot peening process poses the question whether cold spray coating can improve the fatigue strength in addition to providing corrosion protection. The objective of this research is to answer this question for the specific case of the coating of wrought magnesium alloy AZ31B with aluminum powder. This study comprises two parts. The first part characterises the residual stress induced by cold spray coating. This investigation employs both numerical and experimental methods. For the numerical study, the cold spray coating process has been simulated via ANSYS software classic package. The numerical results have been compared to experimental results from X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) stress measurement of a coated sample. For the second part of this research, the fatigue strength of as received, stress relieved, and stress relieved/coated specimens have been compared. Three groups of AZ31B specimens have been prepared and tested by rotating bending machine and their S-N curves have been prepared. Comparison of the results reveals that there is a considerable loss in fatigue strength of as received specimens after stress relief. This is due to the removal of compressive residual stress in the raw material induced by the extrusion process. Also, comparison of S-N curves of stress relieved and stress relieved/coated specimens shows fatigue life improvement after cold spray coating. The maximum improvement is 49 percent in the load of 120 MPa and the endurance limit has improved 9 percent.

Integrally heated composite tooling (IHCT) is seen as a low cost alternative to autoclave manufacturing of polymer matrix composites (PMCs). IHCTs consist of a composite tool heated by surface heaters; temperature distribution is ensured by a thermally conductive metallic layer. The main original contributions of this thesis was the development of a new method for applying copper coatings onto carbon fibre/epoxy PMCs using pulsed gas dynamic spraying, the production of larger size samples, and the characterisation of the performance of the coatings and laminates obtained. It was shown that this method has potential for producing the thermally conductive layer in an IHCT. Another contribution was the characterisation of parameters affecting temperature distribution across IHCTs through heat transfer simulations, leading to guidelines for IHCT design.

Energy efficiency has become a growing concern in a world driven by a fossil fuel economy. Recuperated micro-gas-turbine systems offer the possibility of high efficiency power generation for low output power systems. To this end, increasing the performance while decreasing the cost, the weight and the volume of heat exchangers such as recuperators has become a critical research focus. Recent work done by Brayton Energy Canada (BEC) has renewed interest in Wire Mesh Heat Exchangers (WMHE) by introducing a new production method that uses cells of stacked wire mesh sheets that have a thick external shell deposited by cold spray. Fins are then machined in this external shell, creating a heat exchanger. Net shaped pin fins were successfully deposited using Cold Gas Dynamic Spraying (CGDS or simply cold spray) as an additive manufacturing technique to replace the plate fin arrays currently used. This new development is envisioned to save costs while providing higher heat transfer efficiency than traditional fin arrays. Increasing the performance of such fin arrays would yield higher heat exchanger efficiencies and increase the total efficiency of the gas turbine system. The present thesis provides a description of the research performed, as well as the results thereof, with regards to the performance of pin fin arrays produced using cold spray. A review of the relevant literature is performed to establish the motivation of this study and to describe the relevant work that has been performed by other authors in this respect. The research objectives are to evaluate the thermal and hydrodynamic performance of these fin arrays and relate those to the flow structures arising from fluid motion between these extended surfaces. Furthermore, the proposed approach and the experimental equipment that will be used are described in this work. The research objectives were successfully met, with the results obtained from this work presented in the form of peer-reviewed publications.

Diploma thesis deals in the first part with recent knowledge of cold spray, its mechanism and parameters of deposition, advanced coatings made by cold spray and their applications, knowledge of Ti-6Al-4V coatings and their heat treatment. Deposit of Ti- 6Al-4V powder was made by cold spray process. In experimental part, microstructure and mechanical properties of supplied and its heat treated material were observed and examined. Mechanical properties and microstructure remained unchanged by annealing at 600 °C as in the case of supplied material. Recrystallization occured in microstructure of and phases by annealing at 800 °C. Grains were emerged in microstructure and mechanical properties were decreased. Mechanical properties were improved by annealing at 900 °C due to quenching. Microstructure consists of and ’ phases. Mechanical properties were the worst for annealed material at 1000 °C because of coarsed grains. Material which was annealed at 800 °C, quenched and precipitation hardened had the best microstructure and mechanical properties.

The aim of this master’s thesis was to evaluate cold spray technologies as an alternative method of repairing contact surfaces of parts, especially made of high-alloy manganese steels, to choose a suitable system of materials and to analyze the properties and structure of the produced coating. The thesis presents the basic of the mechanism of cold spray deposition, the described influence of basic process parameters on the structure and properties of metal coatings. Performed analysis of chemical composition, structure, porosity, hardness and strength of AISI H13 steel coating on a high-alloy manganese steel substrate. The described dependence of the structure and properties of a given coating on the heat treatment regime.

This diploma thesis is focused on description of the properties of a layer of Inconel 718 applied on austenitic steel AISI 304 by the Cold Spray and subsequently remelted by electron beam. The first part presents the Cold Spray with its properties, advantages and disadvantages, and also describes the principle of electron beam remelting and other possible uses of electron beam, for example welding, drilling, heat treatment etc. The second part describes the material and the methods used for the preparation and evaluation of the samples. There are evaluated the porosity, microstructure and microhardness of the layers applied by the Cold Spray and these properties are further compared with the properties of the same layers remelted by electron beam. In conclusion, the results of the porosity of the layers applied by the Cold Spray are discussed with the literature and the results of electron beam remelting are only partially described here, because it was not possible to find literature about this topic. There are also suggestions for further research of the properties of this layers, which is necessary to know before implementing this method of producing layers for commercial production.