Temperature Effects in Cavitation Damage

Cavitation damage is studied for several materials over a range of temperatures in the cavitating liquid from 0 C to 90 deg C. The cavitating liquids used were distilled water, distilled water buffered to pH 8, and a 3 percent solution of NaCl in distilled water. The cavitation damage was produced by continuous oscillation of the test specimens with a magnetostrictive transducer so that long term chemical effects tended to be suppressed. It is found that the maximum in the damage rate occurs at temperatures in the range 40 C to 50 deg C. The decrease in the damage observed at the higher temperatures is to be expected as a consequence of the increase in vapor pressure. The rise in damage at the lower temperatures has a less obvious interpretation and may be due to an increase in chemical activity with temperature.