Effect of carbon on the cavitation erosion resistance of Fe-Ni-C austenitic alloys

Abstract
The effect of strain-induced martensitic transformation on the cavitation erosion resistance of Fe-20Ni-xC (x= 0.4 to 0.9-wt.%) carbide-free and fully austenitic alloys was investigated with respect to strain energy as an initiator for strain-induced martensitic transformation. The strain energy increased with increasing carbon concentration. The cavitation erosion behavior of High-C specimens is worse than that of low-C specimens. The cavitation erosion resistance decrease was thought to occur as a result of the higher incremental energy required to initiate martensitic transformation, which then made it difficult to transform austenite into martensite with respect to increasing carbon concentration. Therefore, in this study, the effect of carbon on strain-induced martensitic transformation was investigated by measuring the critical energy required to initiate strain-induced martensitic transformation (CESIMT). The relationship between the critical energy and the cavitation erosion resistance was also investigated with Fe-20Ni-xC (x=0.4 to 0.9-wt.%) alloys.