Cavitation Erosion Properties of Microscale Texture Surfaces Induced by Laser Processing Technique

Reasonable design and fabrication of surface topography can alleviate the cavitation erosion of material surface. The paper investigated the cavitation erosion behavior of plane and both laser induced microscale textures surface using ultrasonic vibratory apparatus and FLUENT software. Firstly, the pressure, velocity and vapor volume fraction distributions on plane were numerical simulated and cavitation erosion experiments of rectangular texture surface were carried out during the cavitation stabilization phase. Then, the influence of microscale texture periods on performance of cavitation erosion assistance was investigated. Lastly, effects of microscale texture types on cavitation erosion were conducted using three kinds of surfaces, plane, triangle texture surface and rectangular texture surface. We found that serious cavitation erosion occurred because of stronger water jet and shock wave impaction when larger bubbles collapse near the annular region, and dense cavitation pits formed in the circular region. For the performance of cavitation erosion assistance of different surfaces, there was an optimal period for both triangle (75 m) and rectangular (400 m) texture surfaces. Rectangular texture surface had better performance of cavitation erosion resistance compared to the other two surfaces.