Improving the oscillating wear response of cold sprayed Ti-6Al-4V coatings through a heat treatment

Cold spray (CS) coating technique is being studied as a potential solution for repairing aircraft Ti-6Al-4V components. This work is focused on the restoration of damaged components due to wear induced by vibrations. It is known that Ti-6Al-4V CS deposition shows difficulties to obtain non-porous coatings due to the high strength of this material, that is detrimental for wear resistance. In this sense, performing a post-heat treatment leads to lower porosity CS Ti-6Al-4V coatings and improves their mechanical properties, and thus, a better tribological behaviour is also expected. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effect of a post-heat treatment on the wear resistance of Ti-6Al-4V coatings deposited by the CS technique. Ti-6Al-4V CS coatings were used, which have been sprayed with nitrogen as process gas at a temperature of 1100 °C and a pressure of 50 bar. The coatings were subjected to a solution heat treatment followed by a precipitation heat treatment. Oscillating and unidirectional sliding wear experiments were conducted on the coatings at room temperature and at 450 °C. A pin on disc configuration was used with a bearing steel counterbody. The results were compared to those obtained on the substrate (which represents the material to be repaired) and on the as-sprayed coating, which were derived from a previous work. The heat treated coating presented improved wear behaviour as compared to the substrate as well as to the as-sprayed coating, particularly during the high temperature tests. Wear at high temperature was dominated by material transference from the counterbody to the Ti-6Al-4V coating.