Recent investigations on cavitation erosion at the university of fukui

Abstract

This paper reviews the recent research achievements by the author on the construction of a cavitation erosion database, and on the data analysis of carbon steel, stainless steel, cast iron and nonferrous alloys. His studies on cavitation erosion mechanisms, temperature effects on cavitation erosion in liquid metals are also reviewed. Finally, an erosion prediction method based on impact load measurements is discussed. It was found that the erosion resistance of carbon steels, stainless steels, cast iron, aluminum alloys, copper alloys and titanium alloys can be estimated accurately from the material hardness for each series of materials and alloys. A cavitation erosion model is proposed for SUS304 and cobalt alloy ST6 based on observations via scanning electron microscopy. The temperature effect showed a similar tendency for both vibratory and cavitating liquid jet tests after defining a relative temperature (a percentage temperature between freezing and boiling points). Erosion rates in various liquids including liquid metals can be evaluated by a combination of material density and sound velocity for the test liquid and the specimen material. Impact load measurements were used to establish a prediction method for the incubation period.