Analysis on Fatigue Fracture of the Flame-Quenched 8.8Al-Bronze by Ultrasonic Vibratory Cavitation Erosion

Abstract

In this study the fatigue properties due to cavitation damage of flame-quenched 8.8Al-bronze (8.8Al-4.5Ni-4.5Fe-Cu) as well as current nuclear pump materials (8.8Al-bronze, SUS316 and SR50A) have been investigated by using an ultrasonic vibratory cavitation test. For this the impact loads of cavitation bubbles generated by ultrasonic vibratory device quantitatively evaluated and simultaneously the cavitation erosion experiments have been carried out. The fatigue analysis on the cavitation damage of the materials has been made from the determined impact load distribution (e.g. impact load, bubble count) and erosion parameters (e.g. incubation period, MDPR). According to Miner’s law, the exponents b of the F-N relation (Fb N = Constant) at the incubation stage (N: the number of fracture cycle) were 5.62, 4.16, 6.25 and 8.1 for the 8.8Al-bronze, flame-quenched sample, SUS316 and SR50A alloys, respectively. At steady-state, the exponents b of the F-N curve (N: the number of cycles required for a 1μm increment of MDP) were determined as 6.32, 5, 7.14 and 7.76 for the 8.8Al-bronze, flame-quenched sample, SUS316 and SR50A alloys, respectively.