The Synergistic Effects of Cavitation Erosion–Corrosion in Ship Propeller Materials

Synergy tests were performed for two most common propeller materials, duplex stainless steel (DSS) and nickel aluminium bronze (NAB), by means of an indirect ultrasonic vibratory system. Tests were conducted for pure cavitation erosion in distilled water, pure corrosion using in situ electrochemistry under 3.5 % NaCl solution and a combination of cavitation erosion–corrosion to understand the overall synergism existing between the two. The results were analysed using gravimetric as well as volumetric analysis. Alicona and Talysurf were employed for the surface topography, and scanning electron microscope was used to see the microstructural morphologies of the samples under different conditions. As a result, the electrochemical tests held at open circuit potential showed that, although DSS exhibited higher resistance to corrosion under seawater alone, NAB exhibited much higher resistance to corrosion when subjected to cavitation. From the experiments conducted, it was concluded that synergy had measurable impact on the cavitation erosion–corrosion of both NAB and DSS. NAB was found to be more susceptible to erosion under both the conditions as compared to DSS with prominent selective cavitation erosion of alpha phase in the microstructure. The overall synergism of NAB was found to be higher than that of DSS. © 2015, Springer International Publishing AG.