title: Cavitation erosion mechanism of titanium alloy radiation rods in aluminum melt.
abstract: Ultrasound radiation rods play a key role in introducing ultrasonic to the grain refinement of large-size cast aluminum ingots (with diameter over 800 mm), but the severe cavitation corrosion of radiation rods limit the wide application of ultrasonic in the metallurgy field. In this paper, the cavitation erosion of Ti alloy radiation rod (TARR) in the semi-continuous direct-chill casting of 7050 Al alloy was investigated using a 20 kHz ultrasonic vibrator. The macro/micro characterization of Ti alloy was performed using an optical digital microscopy and a scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The results indicated that the cavitation erosion and the chemical reaction play different roles throughout different corrosion periods. Meanwhile, the relationship between mass-loss and time during cavitation erosion was measured and analyzed. According to the rate of mass-loss to time, the whole cavitation erosion process was divided into four individual periods and the mechanism in each period was studied accordingly.
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Central South University, 410083 Changsha, China; National Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Central South University, 410083 Changsha, China. Electronic address: dongfang0408@163.com.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Central South University, 410083 Changsha, China; National Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Central South University, 410083 Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoqian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Central South University, 410083 Changsha, China; National Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Central South University, 410083 Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Lihua
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Central South University, 410083 Changsha, China; School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Architecture, 075000 Zhangjiakou, China.
authors.forename: Liyong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Central South University, 410083 Changsha, China; National Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Central South University, 410083 Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Ruiqing
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: Cavitation erosion; SEM; Ti alloy; Ultrasonic treatment