Reprocessable vitrimeric composites metallized via cold spray: A preliminary study on the feasibility of novel hybrid structures

Due to their excellent mechanical properties and lightweight, fibre-reinforced thermoset composites are appealing materials for high-demand industries like aerospace or automotive. However, the inability to be reprocessed and the difficulty in repairing and recycling the thermoset matrices raise serious environmental issues and greatly increase the cost of materials. In fact, as a result of the irreversible chemical bonds formed during the curing process, it is not possible to reshape the material once it is set into its final form. In this context, the novel vitrimer polymers, characterised by intriguing mechanical and chemical properties as well as the ability to be reprocessed and recycled, have sparked increased attention in the literature [1]. Nevertheless, those composites are still limited by their poor surface properties strongly limiting their functionalities. In this scenario, surface metallisation has proved to be an intriguing opportunity to overcome those issues. Among the metallisation technologies, in recent years Cold Gas Dynamic Spray (CGDS) was widely investigated in the literature, owing to its capacity to produce metallic layers on thermo-sensitive materials as it does not exploit thermal energy to create the coatings. In this work, the possibility of producing hybrid fibre-reinforced vitrimer-based composites coated with metallic particles is analysed.