RESEARCH ON CAVITATION RESISTANCE OF COPPER ALLOYS

Cavitation erosion can be a significant problem in many fluid-flow structural components such as marine propellers, hydraulic turbines, and valves, and is a serious problem when designing hydraulic equipment. Despite the use of corrosion-resistant materials, there is a process of material degradation as a result of materialization, growth and decrease of cavitation bubbles in various types of liquids. Cavitation erosion materials are used to prevent the devastating effect of bubble implosion. The article presents the results of tests of resistance to cavitation erosion of selected copper alloys. For the tests, samples made of bronze BA1032 and brass CC754S were used. The tests were carried out on a universal stand for cavitation tests using the Hielschier UP 400St ultrasonic method. Each of the samples was exposed to the cavitation process under laboratory conditions in distilled water. The material tendency to activate the surface during cavitation interactions was determined. An attempt was made to determine the speed of erosion processes and resistance to cavitation erosion. The course of pitting corrosion was also noted. The research ended with the assessment of the surface condition after the cavitation process.