Cavitation and Slurry Erosion of Aluminum in the Slurry Pot Tester

Abstract

In harnessing clean and renewable energy sources water turbines represent a significant portion of the power generation worldwide. Because of erosion, repair and maintenance of hydraulic turbines is a difficult problem. Material removal in hydraulic turbine components may occur either by particle erosion or cavitation erosion or by their combined action. Many ASTM standard and non standard test rigs are aimed at specific tests, like solid particle erosion, cavitation erosion. To simulate the real conditions in a laboratory setup, a novel method is employed to combine the effect of cavitation erosion and slurry erosion in the slurry pot tester. Triangular prismatic cavitation inducers are used in the conventional slurry pot tester. The aluminum test specimens are investigated in the slurry pot tester. A wide variation in material loss was noted under different exposure conditions. The maximum material loss is ascribed to combined effects of solid particle erosion and cavitation erosion.