The effect of coating thickness on cavitation erosion of epoxy systems
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Introduction: cavitation erosion is a common issue in hydraulic machines because it decreases their efficiency. Epoxy coatings are often applied to repair worn components and improve their durability.
Objectives: this work studies the cavitation erosion behavior of three multilayer epoxy coating systems with different thicknesses to evaluate their resistance and identify the most effective configuration.
Methodology: cavitation tests were conducted according to the ASTM G32 standard. A weak shock model was used to calculate the mechanical behavior of the coatings under cavitation wear, determining the maximum pressure values at the coating surface (Pmax). The wear marks produced by the impact of shock waves were analyzed by Scanning Electron
Microscopy (SEM) to characterize the surface damage and wear mechanisms.
Results: the thinner coating, with a thickness of 380 μm, exhibited the longest incubation period of 271 seconds. In contrast, the thickest coating showed the highest erosion rate of 2822 mg/min. The calculated pressures from impact shock waves were significantly lower than the coating hardness (H), indicating that surface damage was not due to direct plastic
deformation. SEM observations revealed the formation of crazing and crack coalescence during the incubation period, confirming that surface fatigue and microcrack propagation dominate the wear process.
Conclusions: the results demonstrate that coating thickness strongly influences cavitation resistance. Thinner coatings delay the onset of erosion, while thicker layers experience higher erosion rates due to accumulated internal stresses and crack propagation.
- Acoustic Cavitation
- ASTM G32
- Cavitation Damage
- Epoxy Coating Systems
- Fatigue
- Shock Wave
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