Features of cavitation wear of chrome electrolytic coatings

Cavitation wear is a pervasive phenomenon on water transport. The parts of ship propulsion system as well as the water-cooled surface of cylinder liners of high-speed ship diesels are subjected to cavitation attack. Bright chromium deposits are used to protect the water-cooled surface of liners. Nevertheless, the effect of cracks appearing in the electrolytic chrome coating upon depositing on the cavitation resistance of coating is still an open relevant problem. The goal of the study is to analyze the kinetics and mechanism of the destruction of the bright chrome electrolytic deposit under cavitation attack. The cavitation resistance of chrome electrolytic coatings after grinding and after polishing was studied. The chrome electrolytic coatings were obtained on the plates (90 × 30 × 7 mm in size) made of cast iron SCh21. The chrome was deposited on one side (90 × 30 mm) of the plate placed vertically by flow anodic jet chrome plating in standard electrolyte (kg/m³): chrome anhydride — 250; sulfuric acid — 2.5; trivalent chrome — no more than 5; trivalent iron ions — no more than 10. The electrolyte was prepared using distilled water of a single distillation. The parameters of depositing: electrolyte temperature is 50°C; the current density amounts to 60 A/dm^2. Four samples cut from the same plate were used. The coatings on the first two samples were ground using the abrasive paper number 320. The coatings on the second pair of samples were first ground successively on the abrasive paper of different grit: 320, 500, 800, 1000, and 1200, and then polished on the cloth with GOI paste. The cavitation wear tests were carried out on a magnetostrictive vibratory rig in fresh water, the frequency and amplitude of the rig horn vibration was equal to 22 kHz and 28 μm, respectively. The spacing between the chrome-plated sample surface and the horn butt was 0.5 mm. The wear of the samples was evaluated by periodical weighing during testing. The wear of the ground samples turned to be significantly higher, than that of polished samples. The photographs of the surface after different duration of the cavitation attack show that the initial cracks formed on the coating during chrome plating are the centers of cavitation destruction. To reduce the negative impact of initial cracks on the cavitation resistance of the bright chrome electrolytic coatings deposited on the water-cooled surface of the cylinder liners of diesels it is shown expedient to include polishing in the technological process of depositing chrome coatings.

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