The health of railway material is of paramount importance for the safety of rail transportation. Railways are subject to heavy mechanical loading and to harsh environments, causing corrosion and damage that can bring to failure. The cold spray process has a great potential as an efficient and portable refurbishment technology, with the advantage of avoiding thermal effects on the substrate. In this study, a proof of concept for the cold spraying of railway steel onto a similar material is presented. This represents a first step towards the development of a cold spray solution for railway repair. First, the as-atomized steel powder revealed to be hardly sprayable. A heat treatment was then optimized and applied to the powder to induce microstructural evolution and to improve deposition efficiency and material quality. Therefore, the refurbishment of damaged railway samples by cold spray was proven to be viable. Finally, mechanical testing assessed the restoration of the structural properties needed for the application.
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