1989 Volume 75 Issue 5 Pages 790-797
The roles of microstructures and alloying elements on cavitation·erosion resistanse of stainless steels are examined. The results are summarized as follows ;
1) Cavitation·erosion resistance of 13Cr martensitic stainless steel depends on metal hardness and has only little dependency to chemical composition. 2) The resistance of austenitic 18Cr-8Ni steels and similar steels depends on their chemical compositions and the erosion weight loss is determined by the hardness of the surface layer where strain induced martensitic transformation occurs due to the cavitation impact. 3) Cavitation·erosion resistance of austenitic high C-18Cr-6Co stainless steels is most excellent for wide range of Ni equivalent. This reason should be attributed especially to martensitic transformation characteristics related to alloying elements of Co and C.
