Cavitation erosion resistance of two steels with the same percentage of Chromium and Nickel but different Carbon content

Abstract

Hydraulic machinery repair works necessitate new materials with improved cavitation erosion resistance and simultaneously good welding properties. The present paper is concerned with the behavior at cavitation of two steels with close contents of chromium (approximately 12%) and nickel (approximate 6%) but with different carbon content (for the first 0.1% C and the second 0.036% C). The reduced carbon content is necessary for an easy welding repair work. As a result of the different chemical content, as is shown by the Schäffler diagram, the steel containing 0.1% C has a structure formed by 60% austenite and 40% martensite while those with 0.036% C has completely martensitic structure. The laboratory tests were done in two vibratory devices one with piezoelectric crystals, respecting the ASME G32-2010 Standard and the other a magnetostrictive vibratory device with nickel tube. The evaluation of the cavitation resistance was obtained with the help of cavitation erosion characteristic curves MDE (t) and MDER (t). For analyzing the steel degradation, the eroded areas were also subjected to microscopic investigations. The results show that the steel with 0.1% C has better cavitation erosion behavior than that of the steel with 0.036% C.