Cavitation Erosion Performance of Steel, Ceramics, Carbide, and Victrex PEEK Materials

Cavitation erosion has to be taken into consideration during material selection in many industrial sectors, e.g., offshore, marine, and oil and gas, in which components operate under severe working conditions. The cavitation erosion equipment, located at the University of Southampton, uses a vibratory apparatus to compare, rank, and characterize the cavitation erosion performance of materials. This article highlights some of the results obtained from industrial research (consultancy) work employing a Hielscher UIP1000hd 20 kHz ultrasonic transducer (Hielscher Ultrasonics GmbH, Teltow, Germany). The transducer is attached to a titanium horn to induce the formation and collapse of cavities in a liquid, creating erosion (material loss) of the specimen undergoing testing. The results from erosion cavitation testing (in accordance with ASTM G32-16, Standard Test Method for Cavitation Erosion Using Vibratory Apparatus (Superseded)) of two commercially available steels are presented herein and are shown to have less resistance to cavitation when compared to polyether(ether ketone), ceramic, and carbide materials. These materials are presented, along with Nickel 200, which was used to normalize the results. A plot of cumulative erosion versus exposure time was determined by periodic interruption of the test.