The mechanism of erosion of metallic materials under cavitation attack

Abstract

The mean depth of penetration rates (MDPRs) of eight polycrystalline metallic materials, Al 6061-T6, Cu, brass, phosphor bronze, Ni, Fe, Mo, and Ti-5Al-2.5Sn exposed to cavitation attack in a viscous mineral oil with a 20 kHz ultrasonic oscillator vibrating at 50 micron amplitude are reported. The titanium alloy followed by molybdenum have large incubation periods and small MDPRs. The incubation periods correlate linearly with the inverse of hardness and the average MDPRs correlate linearly with the inverse of tensile strength of materials. The linear relationships yield better statistical parameters than geometric and exponential relationships. The surface roughness and the ratio of pit depth to pit width (h/a) increase with the duration of cavitation attack. The ratio h/a varies from 0.1 to 0.8 for different materials. Recent investigations (20) using scanning electron microscopy to study deformation and pit formation features are briefly reviewed. Investigations with single crystals indicate that the geometry of pits and erosion are dependent on their orientation