A study of cavitation erosion resistance of an ion nitrided titanium alloy by means of the vibration and rotating disk methods

Abstract

Abstract In this work, a comparative analysis of the cavitation erosion resistance of the Ti–6.7Al–2.5Mo–1.8Cr–0.5Fe–0.25Si alloy (known as brand VT3-1) before and after low-temperature ion nitriding is carried out. Two test methods were applied, using vibrative (ASTM G-32) and rotating disk rigs, respectively. The kinetic dependences of the erosive destruction of samples of titanium alloy VT3-1 in the initial state, after ion nitriding and stainless steel AISI 321 were obtained. A study of the microstructure, hardness and surface morphology was carried out. The samples were examined using optical and scanning electron microscopy. The relationship between mass loss and cavitation erosion duration was experimentally determined and analyzed. The erosion rate on a rotating disk stand is much higher than during vibration tests. A large cavitation load gradient provides additional opportunities for analyzing the durability of materials and coatings using this method.