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Title: CAVITATION DAMAGE STUDY VIA A NOVEL REPETITIVE PRESSURE PULSE APPROACH

Conference ·
OSTI ID:983827

Cavitation damage can significantly affect system performance. Thus, there is great interest in characterizing cavitation damage and improving materials resistance to cavitation damage. In this paper, we present a novel methodology to simulate cavitation environment. A pulsed laser is utilized to induce optical breakdown in the cavitation media, with the emission of shock wave and the generation of bubbles. The pressure waves induced by the optical breakdown fluctuate/propagate within the media, which enables the cavitation to occur and to further develop cavitation damage at the solid boundary. Using the repetitive pulsed-pressure apparatus developed in the current study, cavitation damage in water media was verified on stainless steel and aluminum samples. Characteristic cavitation damages such as pitting and indentation are observed on sample surfaces using scanning electron microscopy.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). High Temperature Materials Lab. (HTML)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
983827
Resource Relation:
Conference: ASME 2010 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conferences, Bellevue, WA, USA, 20100718, 20100722
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English