Cavitation erosion of advanced ceramics in water

The performance of advanced ceramics under cavitation loading in distilled water was studied by using a laboratory test with vibration-induced cavitation following the pattern of the ASTM standard G32–92. The hardened and tempered martensitic steel 100Cr6 was used as a reference. The aim was to identify mechanisms and the effects of important microstructural parameters on damage of polished Al , Al –ZrO , ZrO and SiC ceramics. Results showed that surface damage of brittle ceramics was mainly dominated by intergranular fracture, followed by detachment of single grains or fragments of them. Both incubation time and erosion rate were affected by the amount of initial surface cavities, grain sizes and secondary phases at grain boundaries.