Correlation of splat state with deposition characteristics of cold sprayed niobium coatings

The cold spray technique has a great potential to deposit refractory metals for a variety of potential applications. Cold spraying of different metals have been addressed comprehensively to understand the deposition characteristics of the coatings. Since there is no available data on the deposition characteristics of cold sprayed Niobium, impact behavior of splats at different deposition conditions were simulated and numerically analyzed using Finite Element Modeling (FEM) and correlated with the experimental observations that highlight the role of the velocity and temperature of the particle upon impact on the bonding features. The increase in temperature of the splat drastically reduces the flow stress at the interface leading to best inter-splat bonding state. The synergistic effect of the temperature and the velocity leads to the formation of very dense, defect free niobium coating associated with deformation localization including interface melting. Formation of nanocrystalline grains at the inter-splat boundary was confirmed through TEM and compared with the FEM findings. Finally, understanding the deformation and deposition behavior of refractory metal such as niobium will be helpful to engineer the coatings for potential applications.