Analysis of the External Conditions Affecting on the Cavitation Resistance of a Steel

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of cavitation erosion test conditions on the surface resistance of medium carbon steel. The ultrasonic vibratory specimen system was used to perform the experiments under the laboratory conditions. The vibratory frequency and the displacement amplitude were 20 kHz and 20 μm, respectively. In design of experiments, four various cavitation behaviors have been studied based on four cavitation test conditions corresponding to those behaviors. These conditions can be summarized as follows: (1) the usage of water as a testing liquid; (2) replacement the water with 3.5% NaCl solution; (3) applying a certain voltage to cause a combined electrochemical action working simultaneously with the water; and (4) applying the same voltage by using the 3.5% NaCl solution instead of water. The obtained results showed that the mass loss differs by test modes applied.