Experimental study on the cavitation erosion resistance of 17-4PH under the structure of hundred-micron array grooves on the surface

Abstract

This paper focuses on the cavitation characteristics and damage morphology evolutions of the 17–4PH material with hundreds-micron array grooves on the surface. Based on the ultrasonic cavitation test platform, experimental data were obtained via the mass loss method and fitted with the Logistic equation to derive key parameters, including the nominal incubation period, maximum erosion rate, and stable erosion rate. The results show that samples with groove spacing and width in the hundreds-micron inhibit cavitation damage. Among the samples with four different ratios of groove width to groove spacing (0.8, 0.82, 0.96, 1.75), the cavitation resistance of the material increases with the increase of the ratio. The larger the dimensionless erosion performance parameters, the weaker the anti-cavitation performance. An optimal array groove structure can significantly reduce cavitation damage compared to the polished sample. Especially, the sample with groove width L= 700 μm and groove spacing W= 400 μm exhibits the longest nominal incubation period (25.05 hours) and the minimal cumulative mass loss (10.92 mg) after 50 hours of cavitation, demonstrating the best cavitation resistance. This study can provide a reference for developing new anti-cavitation surface structures in engineering practice.