Weight reduction and improvement in efficiency of rocket engine components, are highly desirable in aerospace to reduce payload, lower launch costs, increase specific impulse, and enable their reuse in successive launches.

We focused in this study on functionally gradient Ni-Cu alloys, which offer both high-temperature strength and high heat flux properties to combustion liners, jackets and nozzles. The microstructures of those bimetallic alloys prepared by nitrogen-based cold spray additive manufacturing (CSAM), have been evaluated using 3D X-ray microscopy, large-scale automated scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Information such as grain size, shape, distribution, porosity, and chemical maps will help guide researchers in their understanding of the mechanical properties of that material.