Principal investigator: Jung-Kun Lee
University: University of Pittsburgh
Industry partner: Westinghouse Electric Company
Cold spray (CS) coating is a low-temperature materials deposition process that is used in various industries to prevent corrosion, improve wear resistance, and restore damaged parts. While CS coating can reduce the corrosion of metal substrates, this process still requires further improvement using nitrogen propellant gas and better understanding of the thermally grown oxide (TGO) formation mechanism. The objectives of the proposed research are to 1) explore how a change in the kinetic energy of impinging metal particles by nitrogen propellant gas influences the quality (interparticle bonding, overall density, coating adhesion to the substrate) of the CS coating layer and 2) design a composition of the CS coating layer with a slow TGO growth rate for the highly corrosion-resistant protection. This will, in turn, help Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC) to develop the CS coating technology to improve the corrosion-resistance and lifetime of various nuclear components for Gen-IV reactors.