Advancing Sustainable Maritime Repairs through Cold Spray Technology

The maritime industry faces significant challenges in maintaining ships, offshore platforms and critical infrastructure that operate in harsh marine environments. Corrosion, wear, and fatigue damage are common issues that require frequent repairs. Conventional repair methods, such as welding, cladding, or component replacement are often costly, time-consuming, environmentally intensive and may require taking assets out of service for extended periods. These limitations increase operational downtime, reduce asset availability, and contribute to higher emissions and resource consumption.
This project investigates the potential of cold spray technology as a more sustainable and efficient alternative for maritime repairs. Cold spray is a solid-state material deposition process that restores damaged metallic surfaces without the high temperatures associated with traditional repair techniques. As a result, it minimizes thermal distortion, preserves material properties, enables on-site repairs and reduces the need for dismantling components. These characteristics make it particularly attractive for mission-critical maritime applications where downtime must be minimized.
Despite its technical advantages, cold spray has not yet achieved widespread adoption in the maritime sector due to the lack of standardized qualification procedures, regulatory approval pathways and validated performance data. The project therefore aims to bridge the gap between research and industrial implementation by generating robust evidence, practical guidelines, and qualification frameworks for cold spray repairs.
The central research question is: How can cold spray repair methodologies be approved and effectively implemented for maritime applications while ensuring operational reliability, safety, maintainability, and long-term sustainability?
By validating cold spray repairs for key maritime materials and developing industry-ready implementation protocols, the project seeks to support sustainable maintenance practices, extend asset lifecycles, reduce waste and emissions, and strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of the maritime sector.