Modified ball bond shear test for determination of adhesion strength of cold spray splats

A modified ball bond shear test was developed to measure the adhesion of cold sprayed splats to both bulk substrates and cold sprayed coatings. The technique was applied to the deposition of Ti feedstock powder (spherical morphology, 29 μm average dia.) onto a commercially pure bulk Ti plate and onto Ti coatings prepared with the same feedstock powder. Both an adhesion strength and adhesion energy were measured, with trends in adhesion examined as a function of in-air particle velocities between 580 and 825 m/s. Comparisons between cold spray splat on bulk materials versus coatings were conducted for two deposition conditions (694 and 825 m/s). Generally, the adhesion for splats deposited at the higher deposition condition were insensitive to the substrate material, while splats deposited at the lower deposition condition adhered better to the bulk material than to the coatings.