Cold Gasdynamic Spraying for Repair of Engine Cooling System Radiators in Agricultural Machinery

Difficulties in the delivery of machinery, equipment, and spare parts, as well as the limitedness of financial resources for agricultural enterprises, necessitate upgrading of machine maintenance processes and technologies. The damage of radiators in the liquid cooling system of internal combustion engines is one reason for equipment failure. To develop a technique for mechanical damage repair, analysis of the radiator designs has been performed and prevailing defects have been revealed. It has been found that aluminum or copper‒brass radiators are most commonly used in the cooling system of internal combustion engines. Maun in-service defects are mechanical damage of internal combustion engine radiators in the form of leaky tubes and cooling tape (or plate) separation. These defects are most frequently removed by soldering with tin‒lead solders, blanking off leaky tubes, pouring polymer sealants into the cooling liquid, and taping. For the case of radiator mechanical damage, it has been suggested that cold gasdynamic spraying of a metallic layer is applied using a Dimet-405 setup. The surface was subjected to preliminary abrasive treatment by a K00-04-16 corundum powder. Optimal spraying conditions have been suggested: for A-20-11 powder at 100°C (regime 1) or 200°C (regime 2) and for C-01-11 powder at 200°C (regime 2) or 300°C (regime 3). The powder feed rate was 0.3 g/s. The strength of obtained joints was no lower than that of joints obtained using tin‒lead solder. A technique for leakage stopping and cooling tape‒tube contact restoration developed by the authors makes it possible to rapidly and reliably repair damaged radiators. The repair of radiators used in the engine cooling system will allow one to cut the machine down time.