Combined wear of slurry erosion, cavitation erosion, and corrosion on the simulated ship surface

The surface material of marine ship hulls suffers degradation by slurry erosion because of the impact of sands or solid particles in seawater. When the ship’s moving speed increases, pressure is changed suddenly and cavitation erosion will occur. Therefore, in the ocean, the corrosion of the surface material of the ship hulls is a combined damage in a slurry erosion and cavitation erosion states. An experimental device, for the combined wear, capable of simulating the above working conditions is designed and manufactured. A combined wear test of various materials (Q235, DH32, and NM360 steels) is conducted. The results show that cutting furrows of the slurry erosion, pinholes of the cavitation erosion, holes of electrochemical corrosion, and their combined effect increase the material wear rates and areas. Ductile materials of high strength have less slurry and cavitation damage, and more corrosion damage. For ductile materials of low strength, slurry and cavitation wear play an important role. When the slurry impact speed is increased, the wear degree of materials is also increased. This experimental setup for the combined wear provides a strong support for the development of wear-resistant materials for ship hulls and the structural optimization of ship hulls.