3D digital holography for measuring particle impact crater morphology and in-situ analysis of oxidation healing on steel surfaces

Abstract

Deformation and erosion of steel due to particle impacts in high-temperature environments are common issues in industrial applications. Under high-temperature conditions, an oxide layer forms that affects the deformation and erosion of the steel surface following particle impacts. Studying the interaction mechanism of oxidation and deformation (erosion) is of considerable significance. Traditional research methods primarily involve ex-situ measurements on samples post-erosion and oxidation, which cannot capture the morphological changes of the steel surface immediately following particle impact. Utilizing 3D digital holography (DH) technology, this paper develops a measurement system to investigate the surface morphological changes in steel induced by single particle impacts. We utilized this experimental system to measure the impact crater morphology of 500 μm zirconia particles impacting Q690 steel sheets. Our findings indicate that Hertzian ring cracks formation is significantly affected by heating temperature and impact angle. Notably, oxide layer peeling and erosion occurred at an impact angle of 30°. Additionally, impact crater depths at a 90° angle and impact speeds ranging from 1 to 20 m/s varied between 0.66 and 4.25 μm, with crater depths showing a correlation to the thickness of the oxide layer. Concurrently, in-situ measurements of the impact crater healing process during heating revealed that the crater formed at a 30° impact angle, which had numerous microcracks, exhibited significantly better healing compared to the crater formed at a 90° impact angle. The thickening process of the oxide layer were also analyzed, leading to the derivation of the oxide layer growth kinetic equation based on the measurement data: $K_p^0=2.39\times {10}^{-8}\exp \left(-17401/RT\right)$. This study is the first to use DH technology to measure the surface morphology of steel and to conduct in-situ analysis of the oxide layer thickening process following particle impact and during heating. This approach provides a novel perspective for understanding the erosion-oxidation interaction mechanism.