Effect of natural aging on mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of 2219 aluminum alloy cold sprayed coatings

The study delves into examining how the natural aging (NA) process influences the mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of cold spray (CS) coatings. The results reveal several key insights: the consolidation behavior of auxiliary steel balls weakens, leading to a transition in the microhardness distribution of the coating from a "stepped" pattern to a more "uniform" pattern, with an average microhardness value fluctuating around 120 HV. Tensile strength experienced a reduction of 4.3 %, and elongation increased by 13.4 %. Electrochemical and peeling corrosion experiments revealed that, after aging, the coating still exhibited no signs of peeling. The corrosion resistance of the coating remains significantly superior to that of the base material (BM). Remarkably, the CS coating continues to provide effective protective functionality for joints even after undergoing 1825 days of NA.