The morphology of cavitation damage of heat-treated medium carbon steel

Abstract

In this paper the morphology of the cavitation damage to heat-treated medium carbon steel was analyzed. The experiments were conducted using a modified vibratory cavitation test set up. The erosion rates weremeasured by an analytical method. The morphology of the cavitation damage was studied by the scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy techniques. The present work was aimed at understanding the cavitation erosion behaviour of heat-treated medium carbon steel under laboratory conditions. The results indicate that the heat-treated medium carbon steel is not to be recommended for the production of hydraulicmachinery parts exposed to high hydrodynamic intensity.

Keywords

• cavitation
• heat treated medium carbon steel
• optical microscopy
• scanning electron microscopy
• microhardness