The deposition behavior of a spray particle stream with a particle size distribution was theoretically examined for cold spraying in terms of deposition efficiency as a function of particle parameters and spray angle. The theoretical relation was established between the deposition efficiency and spray angle. The experiments were conducted by measuring deposition efficiency at different driving gas conditions and different spray angles using gas-atomized copper powder. It was found that the theoretically estimated results agreed reasonably well with the experimental ones. Based on the theoretical model and experimental results, it was revealed that the distribution of particle velocity resulting from particle size distribution influences significantly the deposition efficiency in cold spraying. It was necessary for the majority of particles to achieve a velocity higher than the critical velocity in order to improve the deposition efficiency. The normal component of particle velocity contributed to the deposition of the particle under the off-normal spray condition. The deposition efficiency of sprayed particles decreased owing to the decrease of the normal velocity component as spray was performed at off-normal angle. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.