Effect of Spray Distance and Powder Feed Rate on Particle Velocity in Cold Spray Processes

Cold spray technology using micron-sized particles to produce coatings is increasingly used for reparative tasks in various industries. In a cold spray setup, the gun is usually connected to a robotic arm to deposit coatings on components with complex geometries. For these components, the standoff distance used in the cold spray process has to be large enough for easy maneuverability of the gun around a small radial feature. However, a small standoff distance is commonly found in most studies, which is thought to prevent a velocity drop of the particles over a larger distance. Here, a study was carried out by measuring the Inconel 625 particle velocity at different spray distances, ranging from 3 to 40 cm. The highest average velocity of 781 m/s was found at a spray distance of 8 cm. Furthermore, a study with varying powder feed rates was also conducted. An increase in the powder feed rate was found to have a minimal effect on the particle velocity. Inconel 625 coatings deposited at the optimum standoff distance (8 cm) were found to have low porosity and high hardness. The results in this study demonstrate that a larger standoff distance can be applied without a significant drop in velocity for cold spray applications requiring high maneuverability.

Experimental study on the hole quality during abrasive waterjet drilling of CFRP

Abrasive Waterjet (AWJ) machining is considered an excellent alternative to conventional machining processes due to its superb machining characteristics. More specifically, Abrasive Waterjet drilling is nowadays a promising non-conventional process for obtaining high quality holes. In the present study, drilling experiments based on Taguchi L9 orthogonal design method were conducted via AWJ on carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) plate at various waterjet parameters, namely, different pressure, abrasive mass flow rate and standoff distance values. The purpose of the experiments was to investigate the impact of these process parameters on the quality of holes. The hole quality was determined by measuring the hole diameter error as well as the hole taper. The optical evaluation was implemented with the use of optical microscope and special measuring software. The ANOVA analysis of the results showed a significant influence of standoff distance regarding the hole diameter error and a combined influence of waterjet pressure and standoff distance regarding the hole taper. Furthermore, the optimal process parameter values for the optimization of the hole diameter error and hole taper were determined. The hole quality in terms of defects appearance was also quantitatively inspected, through optical imaging.

Comparative Study for Evaluation of Blast Load Parameters using IS 4991-1968 and UFC 3-340-02

The essence of the blast load relies on the factors such as explosive weight, standoff distance of the structure from the explosive, the location of the explosion concerning the structure, shape of the protective structure, and orientation of the structure relative to the explosion. The study provides an approach for calculating blast wave parameters according to IS 4991-1968 and UFC 3-340-02 and demonstrated by examples. It concludes that, in Indian Standard, only positive blast wave is considered but in UFC, both the positive as well as negative blast wave is taken into consideration. Also, there are significant differences in evaluating the parameters as per both standards.

Experimental and Numerical Investigations of Titanium Deposition for Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing as a Function of Standoff Distance

In this research, the cold spray process as an additive manufacturing method was applied to deposit thick titanium coatings onto 7075 aluminium alloy. An analysis of changes in the microstructure and mechanical properties of the coatings depending on the standoff distance was carried out to obtain the maximum deposition efficiency. The process parameters were selected in such a way as to ensure the spraying of irregular titanium powder at the highest velocity and temperature and changing the standoff distance from 20 to 100 mm. Experimental studies demonstrated that the standoff distance had a significant effect on the microstructure of the coatings and their adhesion. Moreover, its rise significantly increased the deposition efficiency. The standoff distance also significantly affected the coating microstructure and their adhesion to the substrate, but did not cause any changes in their phase composition. The standoff distance also influenced the coating porosity, which first decreased to a minimum level of 0.2% and then increased significantly to 9.8%. At the same time, the hardness of the coatings increased by 30%. Numerical simulations confirmed the results of the tests.

Investigation of Cavitation Bubble Dynamics Considering Pressure Fluctuation Induced by Slap Forces

Cavitation erosion is induced by the penetrating pressure from implosion of cavitation bubbles nearby solid boundary. The bubble evolution and the subsequent collapse pressure are especially important to evaluate the erosion degradation of solid boundary materials. The bubble dynamics equation taking into account the influence of distance between bubble and solid boundary is formulated to investigate the effect of boundary wall on bubble evolution process. The pressure fluctuation induced by slapping forces is adopted to evaluate the bubble dynamic characteristics. Negative pressure period which reflects the effect of vibration velocity and gap clearance also has large influence on bubble dynamics. The effects of standoff distance, initial radius and negative pressure period on bubble evolution and collapsing shock pressure are discussed. Maximum bubble radius increases with standoff distance and initial radius, while shock pressure increases with distance and decreases with bubble initial radius, and both of them increase with negative pressure period.

Influence of Abrasive Water Jet (AWJ) on Surface Roughness

Abrasive water jet (AWJ) is one of the most advanced and valuable non-traditional machining processes because of its massive advantages of removing metals ranging from hard to soft. This paper focused on studying the influence of jet pressure, feed rate and standoff distance on surface roughness during cutting carbon steel using abrasive water jet cutting. A surface roughness device assessed the surface roughness by performing sixteen experiments to identify the distinct texture of the surface. Based on the experiences, the best surface roughness value was 3.14 μm at jet pressure 300 MPa, standoff distance 4mm and feed rate 30 mm/min. The Taguchi method was introduced to implement the experiments and indicate the most influential process parameters on average surface roughness. The experimental results reveal that feed rate has a significant effect on average surface roughness.