Post-Processing of Cold Sprayed Ti-6Al-4V Coatings by Mechanical Peening

Cold spray is an emerging additive manufacturing technology used in the aerospace industry to repair damaged components made of expensive metal alloys. The cold sprayed layer is prone to surface integrity issues such as high porosity and inadequate bonding at the substrate-coating interface, which may cause premature failure of the repaired component. This study explored the use of mechanical peening as a post-processing method to improve the surface integrity of the cold sprayed component by modifying mechanical properties near the surface. Two mechanical peening processes, deep cold rolling (DCR) and controlled hammer peening (CHP), were utilized to improve cold sprayed Ti-6Al-4V coating on the Ti-6Al-4V substrate. Experimental results indicate that DCR and CHP increase the strength of the bond between the coating and substrate due to introduction of compressive residual stresses. In addition, porosity is also reduced by as much as 71%. The improvement is attributed to both the compacting effect of peening processes and the increment in the volume fraction of deformed regions.