Application Overview

High-Pressure Cold Spray (HPCS) is a solid-state material deposition technology in which metal powder particles are accelerated to high velocity and deposited onto a substrate without fully melting the feedstock.

Compared with fusion-based processes, cold spray provides a low-thermal-impact approach for applications where oxidation, thermal distortion, heat-affected zones or changes in the substrate microstructure need to be minimized.

GREENSTONE’s cold spray application capabilities currently cover three major areas:

Additive Manufacturing · Repair & Remanufacturing · Functional Coating Deposition

1. Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing

High-pressure cold spray can be used for rapid material buildup and near-net-shape manufacturing of metallic structures.

Representative applications include:

• Nickel deposited structures
• Copper additive manufacturing
• Nickel additive manufacturing
• Copper heat-transfer structures
• Copper thermal-management components

Because material deposition occurs primarily through high-velocity solid-state particle impact rather than complete melting, cold spray provides an alternative manufacturing route for components where thermal control is important.

It can also be combined with subsequent machining to produce the required final dimensions and surface quality.

2. Cold Spray Repair and Remanufacturing

Cold spray can restore locally damaged or worn areas by rebuilding material onto the original component.

The demonstrated applications include localized repair of precision metal components, followed by machining to restore the required geometry and surface condition.

A typical repair route is:

Damaged Component → Surface Preparation → Cold Spray Material Buildup → Machining → Restored Component

This approach is particularly attractive for components where conventional fusion repair may introduce undesirable thermal effects.

3. Functional Coating Deposition

High-pressure cold spray can also be used to deposit functional metallic coatings onto different substrate materials.

Demonstrated material combinations include:

These applications demonstrate the flexibility of cold spray for combining different coating and substrate materials according to the required surface function.

Potential engineering objectives include:

• Electrical conductivity
• Thermal conductivity
• Corrosion protection
• Surface restoration
• Functional material deposition
• Localized surface modification

Why Use High-Pressure Cold Spray?

The main characteristic of cold spray is that the feedstock is deposited without relying on complete melting of the powder.

This makes the process particularly useful when an application requires:

Low Thermal Impact + Solid-State Deposition + Material Buildup + Dissimilar Material Deposition

Cold spray is therefore complementary to technologies such as laser cladding, DED and thermal spray, rather than a universal replacement for them.

GREENSTONE Cold Spray Application Solutions

GREENSTONE can evaluate high-pressure cold spray for metal additive manufacturing, component repair and functional coating applications.

The appropriate powder material, substrate preparation, deposition strategy and system configuration depend on the specific workpiece and engineering objective.

For a new application, customers can provide:

Workpiece drawings · Base material · Deposition material · Damaged/coating area · Required buildup or coating function · Final dimensional requirements

Our engineering team can then evaluate whether High-Pressure Cold Spray, Laser Cladding, DED or another surface engineering process is more appropriate.