Cavitation Erosion of Titanium Alloys

Cavitation erosion was studied for various types of titanium alloys and for Ti-6 AI-4V with various heat treatments. The erosion resistance is the highest for β type alloy and decreases in order of a+β type alloy and pure titanium (a type). The resistance is macroscopically evaluated in terms of HV^2/E (HV : Vickers hardness and E : Young's modulus), but the erosion proceeds depending on the microstructures. Heat treatments changes the microstructure of Ti-6 AI-4V drastically. Therefore, annealing at high temperature produces the large second phase and results in the accerelation of the erosion depth, in spite of low mass loss rate