Experimental Research on the Mechanisms of Formation for Spheroids Produced by Cavitation Erosion.

Abstract : In modern machinery, a major cause of unscheduled downtime is the wear and eventual failure of load carrying components such as shafts, gears, and bearings. These wear and fatigue failures precipitate wear particles such as metal fragments, shavings, and chips. The mechanisms involved in the formation of wear particles, if understood, would lead to an optimization of the failure prediction method. A potentially important mechanism of wear is the application and release of a local high pressure on a working surface. This wear, known as cavitation erosion, is recognized as a powerfully destructive force in many high speed hydrodynamic systems. Cavitation is one of the major problems confronting designers and users of modern high speed hydrodynamic systems such as pumps, marine propellers, hydraulic turbines, valves and control devices, hydrofoils, sonar domes, other acoustic signal devices, bearings, and diesel engine wet-cylinder liners.