High-Pressure Cold Spray Coatings for Aircraft Brakes Application

This paper addresses the potential use of high-pressure cold spray (HP-CS) technology to produce a film of friction material onto a low-carbon steel substrate to allow its use as potential composite material for the stators and rotors of aircraft brake units. Namely, WC-Cr3C2-Ni, WC-Ni, WC-Co-Cr, Cr3C2-NiCr and WC-Co coatings were deposited by using HP-CS, for the purpose of creating high friction and wear resistance composite coatings onto a low-carbon steel substrate. Tribological (friction coefficient and wear rate) and thermal properties as well as coating hardness and adhesion to the low-carbon steel substrate were evaluated to assess the potential use of the coatings as brake surface materials. The tribological and adhesion properties were evaluated by using a pin-on-disk high-temperature tribometer at 450 °C and a scratch test, respectively, whereas coatings hardness was evaluated with a Rockwell C hardness tester. Results obtained show that all coatings exhibit high friction coefficients and low wear rates compared to the low-carbon steel substrate, good adhesion, and elevated microhardness. Furthermore, the WC-Co coating shows better microhardness and thermal properties, while the WC-Co-Cr coating exhibited a better friction coefficient. Unfortunately, it was not possible to quantify the wear resistance due to the elevated roughness of the coatings, but from the analysis carried out on the alumina counterpart of the tribometer, it can be concluded that all the coatings exhibited a very low wear rate. In fact, after the tribological tests, it emerged that the alumina counterpart was more abraded than the investigated coatings.