Impact and Adhesion Mechanics of Block Copolymers in Cold Spray: Effects of Rubbery Domain Content

The impact and adhesion mechanics of two-phase block copolymers during high-velocity impacts are studied experimentally and computationally to understand the effect of the rubbery phase on bonding behavior in cold spray additive manufacturing. Micron-scale (10-20 μm) spherical particles of polystyrene-block-polydimethylsiloxane with varying rubbery phases are impacted on a silicon substrate by using a laser-induced projectile impact test setup with impact velocities in the range of 50-600 m/s. Experiments indicate that the minimum impact velocity for polymer particles adhering to the substrate decreases with increasing rubbery phase content. A strain rate- and temperature-dependent constitutive model and cohesive zone model are calibrated for each material by comparing the deformed and computed deformed particle shapes and coefficient of restitution values of the rebounding particles. Computational results show that increasing the rubbery phase content in block copolymers increases plastic energy dissipation from 89 to 96% and the critical strain energy release rate from 1.87 to 9.3 J/m² at 140 m/s, and thus contributes to the observed decrease in the minimum impact velocity required for block copolymers to adhere to substrates. The discovered direct relationship between soft phase content and critical strain energy release rate implies that increased soft-rubbery PDMS content in block copolymers enhances adhesion through improved chain mobility, better surface asperities coverage, and enhanced wetting, due to its lower surface energy and greater adiabatic heating.