A Particle-Based Numerical Model for Impact-Induced Bonding in Cold Spray

A computational framework is proposed for modelling particle bonding in cold spray. The model is based on the commonly-held view that bonding is a consequence of jetting, namely, the large plastic strains occurring at extreme rates upon particle impact. The model incorporates a bonding criterion at contacting boundaries by introducing a novel strain-like history variable referred to as the bonding parameter conjugate to a rate-dependent evolution law. In doing so, an analogy is made with classic damage mechanics where bonding is viewed as a similar but opposite process to fracture. Two new material constants are introduced, namely, the bonding toughness and the bonding toughness rate. Furthermore, a numerical implementation of the model in the Material Point Method (MPM) is presented which, thanks to a proposed regularization technique, is free of non-physical dependence on discretization parameters. The mesh-free nature of the MPM allows avoiding the numerical issues in conventional Lagrangian and Eulerian methods such as mesh distortion and artificial dissipation. The model is calibrated numerically for aluminum-aluminum material pair using an in-house computer program. Several numerical results are presented to demonstrate that the model can accurately capture material jetting and directly relate it to bonding within the simulation.