Advanced damage resistance monitoring procedure on the composite materials? surface-exposed to cavitation testing

Morphology and development of surface damage of alumina-based materials, resulting from cavitation erosion is studied in this paper. Two series of samples were prepared: samples without fibers and those with the addition of 2 wt % of ceramic fibers. The form of surface damage is considered to be the information carrier for the analysis of the resistance of materials to cavitation and the quality of this information is determined. The surface of the samples was monitored in defined time intervals in order to prepare the digitized image suitable for further analysis using image analysis software. The principal component analysis was applied to examine the appearance of certain morphological characteristics depending on the behavior of the material during cavitation erosion. It was concluded that the addition of ceramic fibers gained in importance after a long time of cavitation erosion, while during a starting period of time the difference in the morphology of the damage is not very observable.