Corrosion Behavior of Cold Sprayed Titanium Coatings and Free Standing Deposits

Cold gas dynamic spraying can be used to deposit oxygen-sensitive materials, such as titanium, without significant chemical degradation of the powder. The process is thus believed to have potential for the deposition of corrosion-resistant barrier coatings. However, to be effective, a barrier coating must not allow ingress of a corrosive liquid and hence must not have interconnected porosity. This study investigated the effects of porosity on the corrosion behavior of cold sprayed titanium coatings onto carbon steel and also of free standing deposits. For comparative purposes, a set of free standing deposits was also vacuum heat-treated to further decrease porosity levels below those in the as-sprayed condition. Microstructures were examined by optical and scanning electron microscopy. Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) was used to characterize the interconnected porosity over a size range of micrometers to nanometers. Open circuit potential (OCP) measurements and potentiodynamic polarization scans in 3.5 wt.% NaCl were used to evaluate the corrosion performance. The MIP results showed that in cold sprayed deposits a significant proportion of the porosity was sub-micron and so could not be reliably measured by optical microscope based image analysis. In the case of free standing deposits, a reduction in interconnected porosity resulted in a lower corrosion current density, a lower passive current density, and an increase in OCP closer to that of bulk titanium. For the lowest porosity level, similar to 1.8% achieved following vacuum heat treatment, the passive current density was identical to that of bulk titanium. However, electrochemical measurements of the coatings showed significant substrate influence when the interconnected porosity of the coating was 11.3 vol.% but a decreased substrate influence with a porosity level of 5.9 vol.%. In the latter case, the OCP was still around 250 mV below that of bulk Ti. Salt spray tests confirmed these electrochemical findings and showed the formation of surface corrosion products following 24-h exposure.