The behavior to cavitation erosion of CuSn12-C bronze structures, as obtained by in-depth heat treatments

CuSn bronze alloys are some of the most used in the casting of freshwater ship propellers. Through in-depth heat treatments, the microstructure and hardness are substantially altered when compared with the initial state of the material after casting. The work highlights the change in the behavior and resistance to the vibrating cavitation erosion of the CuSn12-C bronze microstructures, after being subject to two in-depth heat treatments (hardening at 700oC, followed by cooling in water, and two hardening treatments at 700oC, with cooling in water, followed by tempering at 500oC and 250oC, with cooling in air). The experimental tests are performed using the vibrating standard piezoelectric crystal assembly, available in the Cavitation Research Laboratory at the Polytechnic University from Timisoara.