Achieving ultrafine grain strengthening C_f/SiC-GH3536 joints brazed with Cu-Ti-WC composite interlayer via cold spray additive manufacturing

Cold spray additive manufacturing (CSAM), as a solid-phase additive manufacturing technology, exhibits enormous potential in the fabrication of metal matrix composite. The conventional preparation methods of composite filler often have some problems, such as agglomeration of reinforcements and poor fluidity, which have limited the further application of composite filler. In this study, we proposed a novel method to prepare the Cu-Ti-WC composite interlayer for brazing C_f/SiC and GH3536 using CSAM. The synergistic deposition mechanism of matrix particles and reinforcing particles in the composite interlayer was revealed. The deformation and recrystallisation of Cu and Ti particles and the crushing and tamping of WC particles achieved the deposition of the cold sprayed Cu-Ti-WC interlayer. The CSAM achieved a tight bonding of the composite filler, generating the initial TiC before reaching the brazing temperature. And the Fe-W-Ni-Cr-Cu multi-principal element alloys (MPEA) generated from the reaction between WC and Cr(s,s), and formed ultrafine grain regions (∼200 nm) with [2–1 −1 0]_HCP-MPEA // [0 0 1]_TiC and [-1 1 1]_FCC-MPEA // [1 1 3]_TiC orientation due to the hindering effect of the increased TiC. The shear strength of C_f/SiC-GH3536 joint brazed with cold sprayed Cu-Ti-WC interlayer was improved to 112.0 MPa, which is 1.5 times higher than that of Cu-Ti-WC powder filler. This study shows the great potential of CSAM in fabricating metal-based composite interlayers for brazing and aids in composite-metal joining for higher performance.