Surface damage as a result of cavitation erosion

Erosion is regarded as a result of the periodic loading of a surface with spherical waves generated at the sites of the collapse of cavitation bubbles. One feature of cavitation loading is the formation of a zone of intense failure at the center of the contact surface. Damage appears a consequence of the formation of longitudinal cleavage cracks under the contact zone, which comprise a system of small annular cracks coaxial to a deep channel crack. The damage zone (blister) occupies a small fraction of the crater surface (the contact zone with the shock wave). The depth of the longitudinal cracks is an order of magnitude smaller than the thickness of the hardened layer. The hardening and erosion processes occur simultaneously. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-7842(98)02209-0].