Investigation of Cavitation Damage Progress in The
Investigation of Cavitation Damage Progress in The
Investigation of Cavitation Damage Progress in The
ABSTRACT
Cavitation damage process of stainless steel during the incubation period was detected and
evaluated using stepwise erosion technique and image processing. The damage experiments were
conducted using the vibratory test rig. The scanning electron microscope images at different
locations on eroded surface using stepwise technique were presented. In addition, the surface
roughness was measured with the testing time. Discrete wavelet transforms and fractals had been
adopted to extract the relevant features. It was found that the feature parameters: Shannon entropy,
energy loss, fractal dimension and intercept show a fairly linear increase with the testing time. It
was also observed that the feature parameters have reasonable correlations with the roughness
parameters.
Keywords: Cavitation erosion, electron microscopy, surface analysis, stainless steel
1. Introduction
Cavitation is defined as the repeated nucleation, growth, and violent collapse of vapor
cavities, or bubbles, in a liquid [1-3]. These collapses exert intense stress pulses, damage
and cause material loss and erosion on nearby solid surfaces. Cavitation damage is one of
the major problems confronting the designers and users of modern high-speed
hydrodynamic systems as reported by Hammitt [1]. It is a serious problem in hydraulic
turbines, pumps, valves, control devices, hydraulic structures, sluices, energy dissipators,
ship propellers, hydrofoils, bearings, diesel engine wet cylinder liners, aircraft engines,
sonar domes, acoustic signal devices, and processing and cleaning equipment [2]. This
damage represents a significant problem related to the operating life and economic values
of these components [4]. One of the most common methods for predicting the amount of
cavitation erosion is based on measurement of mass loss from materials. However, this
method has limitations, because the weight loss is global while the cavitation erosion is a
local phenomenon. Besides, this method overlooks the early stages of the effects of the
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: shemy2007@yahoo.com
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cavitations and sums only the overall resulting material erosion. However, under cavitation
damage, the material surface may be deformed and cracked causing design changes of this
surface even before the material begins to have a detectable loss. Therefore, it is essential
to characterize the surface change in the early stage of cavitation. The eroded features such
as plastic deformation, fracture initiation and its progress are dependent on the load history
and surface properties under cavitation erosion. Hence, of particular importance in the
recent researches is the need to develop numerical methods providing a reliable and
accurate characterization of surface topography with the change in the time.
Literature reports several types of devices and techniques used in laboratory tests for
collecting data of cavitation erosion. The ultrasonic vibratory test rigs are the most
commonly used to conduct the accelerated tests, allowing a large quantity of data to be
accumulated over a relatively short period of time using a wide variety of test conditions,
liquids and materials. As reported by Hammitt [1] most of the data obtained from such
tests are very helpful in clarifying the cavitation erosion mechanism. A consensus showed
that material removal in multiple–impact situations (e.g. cavitation erosion, liquid-droplet
erosion, and of solid–particle erosion) is not a result of single impulses or impacts, but
rather, it is damage accumulations over thousands of impacts before a particle is dislodged
as discussed by Preece and Hansson [2].
It is well established that the rate of erosion is a function of the exposure period, where
this rate increases from negligible values, reaches a maximum, then decreases and levels
off to a steady value [5]. Thus, cavitation erosion history of a material can be divided into
four periods according to ASTM standards G-32 [3]: an incubation period; an acceleration
period; a steady-state period and attenuation period. Among these periods, incubation
period gained a large share of the research as it represents the importance of the process of
cavitation erosion in general due to the existence of plastic deformation, pit formation and
surface hardening. The spread of cracks, which control removals often occur in successive
periods. Some authors [6-9], in their experimental works found that the pits have a
minimal effect in developing erosion. From the analysis of the eroded surface and the
dislodged particles for different test conditions, it was found [7, 10-12] that the plastic
deformation development and the surface hardening lead to the fatigue failure. However,
there is little research [13] that tries to evaluate the erosion resistance of metallic materials
by analyzing the plastic deformation behavior of metallic materials during the incubation
period. As the cavitation erosion is locally distributed, the surface profile technique may
not be a representative to the whole damage on the surface.
Recently, the image analysis technique is considered a worthwhile tool for being able
to perform analyzes of fast, inexpensive and non-destructive for many processes. Image
analysis is efficient in many tribological applications, e.g. wear debris morphology, texture
classification and surface quality in machining as well as it is an appropriate tool to
qualitatively and quantitatively characterize the early stage of cavitation erosion process
[11, 12, and 14]. The topographical images of cavitation erosion surfaces at water and oil-
in-water emulsions were quantified using fractal and wavelet techniques [15, 16]. The
image feature parameters of both techniques and the weight loss decrease with adding oil
to water. Also, it was found that the variation of image feature parameters versus
concentration of oil-in-water emulsions had a general trend that did not depend on
magnification factor.
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In the present work, fractal and wavelet analysis of the stepwise erosion combined with
relocation scanning electron microscopy were used to delineate the real erosion processes
within the incubation period in considerable details. The surface roughness evolution
within the incubation period was also measured for the stepwise erosion.
Fig. 1. Pass-band structure for a two dimensional sub-band transform with three levels.
As an extension of the standard wavelets, wavelet packets represent a generalization of
the multi-resolution analysis and use the entire family of sub-band decompositions to
generate an over complete representation of images [18]. There are many outstanding
properties of wavelet packets that encourage research in many widespread fields.
An image is decomposed into one approximation and three detail images in 2-D
discrete wavelet packet transforms (2-D DWPT). The approximation and the detail images
are then decomposed into a second-level approximation and detail images, and the process
is repeated. The wavelet packet tree for 3-level decomposition is shown in Fig. 2. The
standard 2-D DWPT can be implemented with a low-pass filter h and a high-pass filter g
[19]. The 2-D DWPT of an N x M discrete image A up to
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Entropy P (k )
2 2
i
cP
j k ,( i , j )
log ckP,(i , j )
(5)
Energy P (k )
2
i
cP
j k ,( i , j )
(6)
(k) (k)
Where Energy p and Entropy p are the energy and entropy of the image projected
onto the subspace at node (p, k). The entropy of each sub-band provides a measure of the
image characteristics in that sub-band. The energy of each sub-band provides a measure of
the image characteristics in that sub-band. The energy distribution has important
discriminatory properties for images and as such can be used as a feature for texture
classification. From the equations above, it follows that the wavelet entropy is minimum
when the image represents an ordered activity characterized by a narrow frequency
distribution, whereas the entropy is high when an image contains a broad spectrum of
frequency distribution.
(7)
Where u and v are the spatial frequencies (number of waves per unit wave length) in
the x and y directions respectively. The PSD is converted to the polar coordinate system S
(f), such that f u v . The value of S(f), at each radial frequency f, is averaged over
2 2
angular distributions. For a fractal surface, Fig.3 (a), the power spectrum shows a linear
variation between the logarithm of S(f) and the logarithm of the frequency as shown in
Fig.3 (b).The slope of the linear regression line is related to FD by equation [13, 31]:
8
FD (8)
2
It is reported in literature that fractal dimension and intercept are significant fractal
parameters that describe the irregularity and complexity of the surfaces. Moreover, the
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intercept correlates well with the overall magnitude of roughness of the observed texture
appearance of the surface images. In the present study, fractal analysis is going to be used
to assign numerical values to indicate the development of stepwise erosion for cavitation
eroded surfaces.
Log Log plot of Magn. vs Freq.
26
data 1
y = - 2.5*x + 26 linear
24
data 2
22
Log Magnitude
20
18
16
14
(a) (b)
12
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Log Frequency
Fig. 3. (a) A surface image of polished surface, and (b) Power spectrum of its
Fourier transform, plotted as directionally averaged of log (PSD) versus log
(frequency).
3. Experimental procedure
The test material was austenitic stainless steel SUS 304, whose nominal mechanical
properties and chemical composition are shown in Table 1. To ensure metallurgical
uniformity, all test specimens were cut from single round rod of the material. The round
specimens were machined to flat-surfaced discs of diameter of 15.9 mm and a height of 11
mm with threaded sections for attachment to the cavitation vibratory horn. . Initial surface
roughness of the specimens is known to be of a considerable importance in creating pits
[7], to facilitate crack initiation [32], to develop the fracture and to increase the rate of
linear particle dislodgment [33]. To minimize these problems in the present study, the
working faces of specimens were highly polished with grade 3000 dry emery paper.
Cavitation erosion experiments were performed using ultrasonic cavitation test
apparatus shown in Fig. 4, which is in accordance with ASTM standard G32-06 [3]. The
apparatus consists of a quartz transducer oscillating at a resonant frequency of 20 kHz,
attached to an exponentially shaped prop, which amplifies the amplitude of vibration. The
double amplitude (peak to peak) was 50 µm. This alternating sound field generates
pressure fluctuation with the horn-tip immersed in liquid. During one half of each vibration
cycle, a low pressure is created at the test specimen surface, producing cavitation bubbles.
During the other half of the cycle, bubbles collapse at the specimen surface.
The specimens were immersed in 1000 ml open glass beaker, containing 700 ml of tap
water. Since the test liquid temperature markedly affects the degree of erosion [34,35], the
test water temperature in the beaker was controlled by cooling water circulation to be
within 22±1 °C , as shown in Fig.4.
Four specimens were tested at successive intervals within incubation period, two
specimens for capturing the eroded surface image and the other two for surface roughness
measurement. Such short experimental time (i.e.: elapsed time is within 5 min.) was
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M. Osman and S. M. Ahmed, Investigation of cavitation damage progress in ………….
scheduled to reduce other damage effect on the surface, such as corrosion. The surface
roughness was 2-dimensionally measured by a stylus profilometer in the direction of lay
and in perpendicular direction to the lay. Then the average value of the surface roughness
parameter was estimated for the two directions. The average value of roughness parameters
Ra (mean surface roughness) and Rq (Root-mean-square roughness) was calculated from
five random profiles of sampling length 2.5 mm at each test time. The duration of each
interval time must be sufficient to produce gradually change in the features of the damage.
Therefore, a 5 min. was decided for a total of 45 min. of testing on each specimen. The
specimens were ultrasonically cleaned in acetone, dried in open air, and weighed by a
digital balance with a sensitivity of 0.01 mg.
It is known that cavitation erosion is localized and unevenly distributed. So in order for
the stepwise erosion results to be representative, photographs were taken at four locations
on the surface of the sample, with two near the center and the other two near the edge. For
comparative examination, capturing an image of the same area on the surface of the sample
after each test requires relocation of the sample in the microscope, which has been done
through the rotation of the sample and observing the lay of specimen using small
magnification and comparing it to the previous images.
Table 1.
Mechanical properties and chemical composition of SUS 304
Density 8027 kg/m3
Yield stress 517 MPa
Tensile strength 758 MPa
Elastic modulus 193 x 103 MPa
Hardness, BHN 240
Elongation percent 60
Nominal chemical C 0.08 max, Mn 2max, Si 1 max, P 0.045max
composition S 0.03 max, Cr 18 – 20, Ni 8 – 12
Fig. 5. Sequences of images show the progression of damage with time at two
positions on the sample: (a) the center, (b) the edge.
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Fig. 5. Continue
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M. Osman and S. M. Ahmed, Investigation of cavitation damage progress in ………….
-4
-6
-8
-10
-12
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Test time (min)
2
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Test time (min)
Fig. 8. Change of wavelet energy with test time t.
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M. Osman and S. M. Ahmed, Investigation of cavitation damage progress in ………….
3.5
y = 0.027*x + 1.9
R2 = 0.9005
Fractal dimensional
3
2.5
1.5
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Test time (min)
34
32
30
28
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Test time (min)
Fig. 10. Change of fractal intercept with test time t.
6
x 10
18
16 y = 4*105*x + 2.5*106
R2 = 0.886
14
12
10
Energy loss
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Test time (min)
Fig. 11. Change of wavelet energy loss of eroded surface image with the time.
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From this figure, it can be seen that the energy loss increases with time in a similar
manner to the behaviors of entropy, fractal dimension and intercept with time.
Each feature corresponds to a visually recognizable property of the image described in
Section 4.1. That is, for uneroded surfaces with homogeneous textures the results show
relatively low values of entropy, energy loss, fractal dimension and slope. While, these
extracted features have high values for eroded surfaces due to the coarseness of the surface
textures. To verify these results, Figs. 12 & Fig.13 examines the possible correlation
between feature parameters extracted from images and corresponding average roughness,
and root mean square roughness , given in Fig.6. It is clear that the correlations of
feature parameters with the roughness parameters are similar to the correlations with the
testing time. It is worth noting that Shannon entropy exhibits the best correlation with
and with correlation coefficient 0.98. It can be concluded that the image texture
analysis by discrete wavelet analysis and fractal analysis of the cavitation eroded surface
can be used to predict the nature variation of cavitation damage.
11
x 10
-3.5 y = 6.5*1011*x - 7.2*1011
R2 = 0.967
-4
Shannon entorpy
-4.5
-5
-5.5
-6
-6.5
-7
-7.5
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
R (µm)
a
(a)
6
x 10
18
y = 2.1*107*x + 2.6*106
16
R2 = 0.8636
14
12
Energy
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Ra (µm)
(b)
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M. Osman and S. M. Ahmed, Investigation of cavitation damage progress in ………….
3.2
y = 1.5*x + 2
3 R2 = 0.8848
2.6
2.4
2.2
2
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Ra(µm)
(c)
37
y = 8.3*x + 31
R2 = 0.8937
36
Fractal intercept
35
34
33
32
31
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Ra (µm)
(d)
Fig. 12. Feature parameters: Shannon entropy (a), energy (b), fractal dimension
(c), fractal intercept (d) versus .
5. Conclusions
Image processing based on discrete wavelet transform and fractal analysis was used to
characterize the cavitation damage images. Those images were captured using the stepwise
erosion technique. The following results can be drawn:
(1) The extracted feature parameters; Shannon entropy, energy loss, fractal dimension
and fractal intercept change linearly with exposure time.
(2) The relationships between feature parameters and roughness parameters were linear.
The best correlation was for Shannon entropy.
(3) The results indicate that the image analysis procedures rep promising techniques
since they are effective in characterizing the changes of surface topography with
exposure time.
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(4) The surface topography with test time showed the plastic deformation development
that leads to the fatigue
11
failure was the predominant mechanism.
x 10
-3
y = 8.4*1011*x - 7.2*1011
R = 0.9672
-4
Shannon entorpy
-5
-6
-7
-8
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
R (µm)
q
(a)
6
x 10
y = 2.8*107*x + 2.5*106
15 R2 = 0.8681
Energy
10
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Rq (µm)
(b)
3.2
y = 2*x + 2
R2 = 0.8804
Fractal dimensional
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Rq(µm)
(c)
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M. Osman and S. M. Ahmed, Investigation of cavitation damage progress in ………….
37
y = 11*x + 31
36 R2 = 0.8912
35
Fractal intercept
34
33
32
31
30
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
R (µm)
q
(d)
Fig. 13. Feature parameters: Shannon entropy (a), energy loss (b), fractal
dimension (c), fractal intercept (d) versus .
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