Antifouling coatings made with Cold Spray onto polymers: Process characterization

Cold Spray (CS) of copper particles onto polymers has been validated as an effective tool for maintaining surface integrity in bioenvironments. CS requires limited heat input, can be applied locally or in large areas. The key parameters are particle penetration depth and copper surface coverage. However, the process parameters that can optimize the coating performance with deposition have not been comprehensively explored. In this paper, copper particles were deposited onto two polymers used in marine applications. A detailed analysis was carried out to correlate the key surface properties to the process so as to determine the optimum conditions.