The Effects of Sand Particles on the Synergy of Cavitation Erosion-Corrosion of MIG Welding Stainless Steel Coating in Saline Water

Cavitation erosion (CE) is a common problem troubling manyflow-handling equipment such as valves, orifice plate pipes, andpropellers. The coating technique is a widely used strategy to resist CE. It is important to understand the CE-corrosion behaviorof the coatings in the corrosive solution, especially in the sand-containing saline water. A newly designed MIG weldingprecipitated hardened martensitic stainless steel (PHMSS) coating was performed, and its silt-CE was investigated in asuspension composed of 3.5 wt.% sodium chloride and 3% silica sand using an ultrasonic vibrator processor. The microstructureof the coating was characterized by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The effects of the sand particles onthe CE-corrosion were analyzed using mass loss measurement, potentiodynamic polarization curve, and surface morphologyobservation. The results showed that the PHMSS coating was mainly composed of the lath martensitic phase alone. Its mass lossrate was in ascending order in the solution of distilled water alone, sand-containing distilled water, saline water alone, and sand-containing saline water. Sand particles played more roles in the CE in the distilled water than in the saline water. The synergy ofCE and corrosion was much less in the sand-free saline than in the sand-containing saline. The maximum component was theerosion enhancement due to the corrosion in the saline without sand particles but was the pure erosion component in the salinewith sand particles. The mechanism of the sand particles’effect on the CE was also discussed