Multichannel cold spray apparatus

A cold spray apparatus for applying a coating of particles to a substrate comprising:

• a nozzle assembly having a plurality of inner passages, each of the inner passages including a nozzle entrance, a nozzle exit, a convergent section, a divergent section, and a throat between the convergent section and the divergent section, each of the plurality of inner passages extending in a flow direction from the convergent section adjacent the nozzle entrance through a throat to the divergent section adjacent the nozzle exit, the plurality of inner passages sharing a common exit out of the nozzle assembly, the nozzle assembly including walls between each of the plurality of inner passages with each of said walls extending in a longitudinal direction toward the common exit, each of said walls extending from the throat of each of the inner passages to a termination point of each of the inner passages;
• a gas supply member providing a supplied gas to the plurality of inner passages of the nozzle assembly to flow through the plurality of inner passages of the nozzle assembly and accelerate through the plurality of inner passages by passage through the convergent section, the throat, and the divergent section of each of the plurality of inner passages;
• a particle supply member in direct communication with the plurality of inner passages, the particle supply member supplying the particles directly to the divergent sections to flow the particles in the gas supplied by the gas supply member and out of the nozzle assembly via the common exit toward the substrate to coat the substrate, each of the plurality of inner passages defining an ML distance as a distance between the throat of the inner passage and the termination point of the inner passage, the nozzle assembly defining an DL distance as a distance between the throat of the inner passage and the common exit, the distance the termination point of each of the plurality of inner passages is away from the common exit defining an overlap;
• and
• a laser that emits a laser beam that is transmitted through each of the plurality of inner passages containing the supplied gas, the laser heats the particles below the particles' melting point and heats the substrate to promote cold spray coating of the substrate with the particles.