Isaac Nault, PhD

Dec 6, 20211 min

Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing of NB C103

Data collection on cold spray additive manufacturing using Niobium C103 to determine the strength and elongation of each material tested. C-103 Niobium is a complex, medium-strength alloy containing niobium-hafnium-titanium (Nb/Hf/Ti). As a high-performance, heat-resistant metal alloy C-103 Niobium (Nb) is commonly used in aerospace components; the materials must withstand high temperatures for applications such as rocket nozzles, propulsion systems, or engines.

This data was generated by tensile testing of coupons that were cut from a cold sprayed block of C-103 Nb and heat treated. Tensile testing was performed on CSAM C103 at temperatures (°C) ranging from 0°C to 1400°C. The C-103 Niobium coupons were soaked prior to and during tensile testing. The Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled while Yield Strength (YS) is the maximum stress a material can withstand before permanent deformation. Elongation is a measure of deformation that occurs before a material eventually breaks when subjected to a tensile load. Data points can be seen above in comparison to established Wrought C103 trends.

As seen above, initial results show that cold-sprayed C103 has similar trends for strength compared to Wrought C103 with 88.6% deposition efficiency and 0.58 kg/hr build rate. Elongation of CS C103 remains slightly lower at the highest temperatures compared to Wrought C103.


Contact Isaac Nault, PhD for questions on CSAM of C-103 Nb.

Isaac M. Nault, PhD

Technical Lead, Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing

DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory

FCDD-RLW-MD Weapons and Materials Research Directorate

Manufacturing Science & Technology Branch(MSTB)

Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD

Office: (410) 306-0865

Email Dr. Nault