Mechanical and Microstructural Characterization of Cold-Sprayed Ti-6Al-4V After Heat Treatment

The cold spray of Ti-6Al-4V coatings deposited on Ti-6Al-4V substrates has been investigated. Coatings were produced using nitrogen and helium as propellant gases and subsequently heat treated with various temperature-time conditions. The microstructure was characterized by SEM and optical microscopy while mechanical properties were measured by microhardness and tensile testing. It is shown that coatings sprayed with nitrogen gas were relatively porous in comparison to the nearly completely dense coatings obtained with helium gas. In the as-sprayed condition, coatings displayed high hardness but low tensile strength. Heat treatments at temperatures of 600 °C and higher resulted in a decrease in hardness due to microstructural changes within the particles including recovery, recrystallization, and/or phase transformation. However, an increase in tensile strength was attributed to improved inter-particle bonding due to an observed change from brittle to ductile features on the fracture surface. The highest strength coating produced was a helium-sprayed coating annealed at 600 °C, which featured a tensile strength ~85% of the minimum required bulk value and coating/substrate microstructures similar to the as-received powder/substrate microstructures.