The post Transient interfacial melting promotes bonding in cold spray additive manufacturing of dissimilar metals appeared first on Archès Lab.

One of the biggest challenges in advanced materials engineering is translating the exceptional properties of 2D materials such as graphene into scalable 3D components without compromising their functionality. Traditional high-temperature manufacturing routes often limit this potential. In our latest work within the ThermoDust project, we demonstrate how Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing can be leveraged to produce graphene-reinforced copper composites, opening new possibilities for integrating 2D materials into industrial-scale applications.

Our findings reveal how processing conditions, microstructural evolution, and interfacial bonding collectively govern the final performance of these novel composites. More importantly, the study highlights both the opportunities and challenges of integrating graphene into metal matrices, showing that the path from promising nanomaterials to real-world engineering applications depends on carefully controlling material architecture across multiple length scales.

This work was made possible through the collaboration between Politecnico di Milano, University of Twente, Trinity College Dublin and Universitat de Barcelona, bringing together expertise in additive manufacturing and advanced materials.

The post Additive manufacturing of graphene-reinforced copper matrix composites produced via cold spray appeared first on Archès Lab.

We are pleased to share our work, “Strain-Activated Mechanical Metamaterial with Programmable Dual-Phase Stiffness and Enhanced Energy Absorption.”

The proposed auxetic-inspired unit cell incorporates internal locking arms that activate sequentially under compression. At low strain, the structure remains compliant through bending-dominated deformation. As strain increases, the arms engage and redirect the load path toward a stiffer, stretching-dominated response without external actuation or structural reconfiguration.

Using finite-element simulations and a full-factorial design of experiments covering 54 geometries, we identified how the unit-cell parameters control the initial stiffness, activation strain, and energy absorption. The optimized designs achieved 14.8–67.3% higher specific energy absorption than a matched conventional re-entrant honeycomb.

Compression tests on additively manufactured unit cells and 4×4 lattices confirmed the predicted dual-stiffness behavior and demonstrated a stable, repeatable deformation pathway.

This concept offers new opportunities for adaptive protective systems, crash absorbers, and morphing structures.

The post Strain-Activated Mechanical Metamaterial with Programmable Dual-Phase Stiffness and Enhanced Energy Absorption appeared first on Archès Lab.

The study shows how deposition sequence and post-processing heat treatment influence interfacial microstructure and directional thermal conductivity. Notably, heat treatment increased the in-plane thermal conductivity of GRCop-42/IN718 joints by 131%, highlighting new opportunities for designing multi-material components for advanced thermal-management applications.

We are glad to have contributed to this collaborative work and congratulate the entire team on the publication.

The post Cold spray additive manufacturing of Inconel 718/Cu and Inconel 718/GRCop-42 multi-materials: effects of deposition sequence on interface and thermal conductivity appeared first on Archès Lab.

In our latest publication, we explored how selective ultrasonic shot peening (USP) can be used to create bi-directional microstructural heterogeneity in thin 316L stainless steel specimens. By introducing specially designed polymeric masks during USP, we selectively protected regions of the specimen surface, producing a patterned architecture composed of hardened (USPed) and untreated (masked) domains.

This approach enables microstructural gradients not only through the thickness, but also across the surface, offering a new way to tailor grain refinement, GND distribution, and strain localization through controlled surface treatment.

The results demonstrate the potential of selective USP as a versatile strategy for designing heterogeneous microstructures and tuning mechanical behavior. Our future work will focus on more advanced masking strategies and extending this concept to other material systems.

We’re excited to continue exploring how spatially controlled surface engineering can open new opportunities for microstructure design and performance optimization.

The post Engineering bi-directional microstructural heterogeneity through mechanical surface treatment appeared first on Archès Lab.

Answering this question requires looking far beyond conventional observations. In our latest research, we employed advanced large-scale molecular dynamics simulations involving millions of atoms to uncover the fundamental mechanisms governing interfacial bonding in Cold Spray.

The study combines a wide range of atomistic, metallurgical, and materials science analyses, including defect evolution, dislocation dynamics, stacking faults, deformation twinning, phase transformations, localized melting and amorphization, atomic mixing, stress and strain evolution, grain refinement, recrystallization, and crystallographic characterization. By systematically comparing FCC and BCC metallic systems, we reveal how crystal structure dictates deformation mechanisms and ultimately controls the quality of metallurgical bonding under extreme strain-rate conditions.

Beyond providing a detailed atomic-scale picture of particle impact, this work offers new insights into the physical origins of solid-state bonding and contributes to a deeper understanding of Cold Spray from a fundamental materials science perspective.

The post Atomic-scale defect-mediated interfacial bonding in cold spray: FCC vs. BCC metal systems appeared first on Archès Lab.

We are pleased to share a new publication from our group, recently published in Materials & Design. The study, “Bimetallic Al–Fe Composites with Tailored Properties Produced by Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing,” examines how retained Fe content and its spatial distribution govern densification, deformation, mechanical performance, and fracture behaviour in cold-sprayed Al–Fe composites.

By establishing a direct link between composition, microstructure, and mechanical response, the work identifies an intermediate Fe range that delivers the most favourable balance between strengthening and ductility, while revealing how particle clustering and interface-controlled damage limit performance at higher Fe contents.

Congratulations to the authors Kiran Tulasagiri Raddi, Asghar Heydari Astaraee, Sara Bagherifard.

The post Bimetallic Al–Fe composites with tailored properties produced by cold spray additive manufacturing appeared first on Archès Lab.

In this study, a high-fidelity open-source multi-particle impact framework (Free2Spray) is developed to simulate large-scale (>10,000 particles) CS deposition at a considerably convenient computational cost. The model can accurately track material changes during deposition by splitting the process into sections, each with randomly placed particles. The developed framework is proven to accurately predict the shape profiles and surface roughness of experimental single-layer single-track deposits under various nozzle scanning speeds and reproduces the experimental cross-sectional particle deformation and flattening ratios. Compared with the standard Eulerian schemes, the proposed framework reduces the computational time and memory usage by 34% and 35%, respectively.

The post Large-scale multi-particle cold spray simulation framework for deposit morphology and deformation analysis appeared first on Archès Lab.

We are pleased to have participated in the international RIPT 2026 conference: “Les Rencontres Internationales de la Projection Thermique”. It was a pleasure to learn from and interact with experts in thermal spraying, coatings, and related technologies.

A special highlight of the experience was the award for 2^nd Best Poster granted to our team member, Fatemeh Zarei, for her poster titled “From Wet-Milled Cu-Graphene Powder to 2DMMC’s via Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing”. Congratulations to Fatemeh for her outstanding work!

The post RIPT 2026 conference in Aachen highlight: Best poster award appeared first on Archès Lab.

Many congratulations to Magesh for this important career milestone, and we wish you the best for your next steps moving forward!

The post Celebrating Dr. Magesh Kumaravel’s Ph.D. Success appeared first on Archès Lab.