Cavitation Erosion Characteristics for Different Metal Surface and Influencing Factors in Water Flowing System

The impact of cavitation erosion behavior on different metals in a water flowing system was investigated experimentally. A flowing system of water was built and a transparent observation window is designed to capture the cavitation flow. Erosion tests were carried out on red copper, brass, pure aluminum, and an aluminum alloy. The cavitation behaviors are presented by the weight loss and cavitation erosion rate, and related changes in the topography of the metal surface are also discussed. The variation in the cavitation erosion on metallic specimens with increasing time could be divided into three stages: rising stage, stable stage, and attenuation stage. The pure aluminum material had the lowest yield strength, and suffered the most severe cavitation erosion while brass had the highest yield strength and good mechanical properties, which suffered the least cavitation erosion. Furthermore, the roughness of the material surface was also one of the important factors affecting the cavitation erosion rate. The weight loss of milling specimens with higher surface roughness was slightly lower than that of grinding. The high roughness of the metallic surface increased the pressure loss along the flow path and the suppressed cavitation strength. This work provides an experimental reference for the anti-cavitation ability improvement in metal materials and promotes an understanding of the related mechanism.