Researches upon cavitation erosion behavior of some duplex steels

This paper presents the cavitation erosion behavior of two stainless steels having a duplex structure formed by austenite and ferrite. The conclusions were obtained by using both the cavitation erosion characteristic curves and the pictures of the eroded surfaces obtained with performing optic microscopes. The researches were focused upon the optimal correlation between the cavitation erosion resistance and the rate of the two structural constituents. The tests were done with T2 facility, with ceramic crystals, which integrally respects the ASTM G32-2010 Standard. The obtained results present the cumulative effect upon cavitation erosion of the chemical composition, mechanical properties and the structural constituents. The results of the researches are of importance for the specialists which establishes the composition of the stainless steels used for manufacturing hydraulic machineries or other devices subjected to cavitation erosion.