Water erosion mechanism of mild carbon steels induced by micro-particles

To clarify the water erosion mechanism of the mild carbon steels, the water erosion experiments were performed by using deionized water as steam source. The results showed that under the damage threshold velocity of liquid impact, the material surface would not be destroyed. However, when the micro-particles were added into the steam, the pits appeared on the surface soon. By comparison, it is found that the pits are quite different from those induced by micro-particles impact without steam, but similar to those induced by cavitation erosion. The results indicated that the water erosion mechanism was similar to that of cavitation erosion under the damage threshold velocity. The micro-particles carry the micro-bubbles to approach the surface of the material, and the micro-bubbles collapse and gener-ate micro-jet to impinge vertically on the surface, which lead to the produce of pits.