F ai l u r e An al ys i s

Cas e S t u d y: Er o s i o n

The microscopic features of cavitation erosion and the solution

in the plastic injection moulding machines
M e e t T h e Te a m
 CASE STUDY
Background
Result and Discussion
1 3

INTRODUCTION REFERENCE
Cavitation erosion
2 All the literature study to
support this presentation
Injection molding
3
 Introduction
Cavitation Erosion

• The cavitation process contains two aspects:

a) The vapor bubble formation, due to the sudden reduction in fluid
pressure
b) The bubble collapse, due to the fluid pressure increases in the
downstream
• The bubble implosion generates broadband high frequency vibration.
• Identify cavitation issues by vibration analysis
• Sometimes misinterpret as flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) because both
the microscopic features have not been well-established
 Introduction

Cavitation Erosion Flow-Accelerated Corrosion (FAC)

• A mechanical process of material • A corrosion process in which the

removal through bubble implosion. protective oxide film is dissolved
• Often combined with corrosions in by the fluid flow.
industry. • Irrelevant to bubble implosion.
• Pure cavitation erosion is • FAC may be combined with
particularly rare in the real world. cavitation erosion.
• “Hammer like’’ blow by the bubble • FAC generates the horseshoe pits or
implosion scalloped appearance

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 Introduction
Cavitation Erosion

Their features vary with the material’s hardness

a) For softer materials, plastic deformation usually occurs with bubble
implosion.
b) For harder materials, cavitation leads to fatigue cracks.
c) Cavitation erosion on aluminium impeller formed smooth pits.
d) Cavitation erosion on diesel engine injector nozzle formed rough pits.
e) Cavitation erosion on cylinder liner became deeply pitted and appeared
to be spongy.
f) Cavitation erosion on booster pump produced plastic deformation and
microcracks which resulted in the large rough pits.
g) Stainless steels, copper alloy, and titanium alloy to Al2O3. The features
varied from rough surface craters to smooth scalloped appearance.
 Introduction
Injection Moulding: Nozzle

• The nozzle’s material: stainless steel and aluminium alloy

• The function of the nozzle is to handle both coolant and compressed air,
which are separated by an O-ring inside the nozzle
 Case Study: Indication of Failure
• Service life: 2005 – 2011
• Apperance: Rusty/muddy in the coolant
• The consultant’s recommendation: Applied a corrosion inhibitor
(Maxiguard)

Maintenance
Result
• Flushing with • The aluminium alloy Record
Drewclean 26 and components in the
added Maxiguard • Bubbles appearing in nozzle units had • The aluminium
into coolant system the sight glass of the failed alloy components
flow meter failed in only a few
months of service
(premature failure)
Treatment Investigation
 Case Study: Indication of Failure

• No nozzle failure occurred before the flushing and the chemical

dosing.
• The client’s hypothesis: Chemical corrosion caused by either
Drewclean 26 or Maxiguard in the coolant.
• The client requested the author to resolve the corrosion problem.
• The author conducted a site investigation in the plant.
• Smooth pits on the failed region of the aluminium alloy
components
• The pitting location was limited to the tube tip region, not in the
entire tube inner surface. As the bubble’s appearance was
associated with the nozzle failure, therefore, it was almost
certain that cavitation erosion was involved in the failure.
However, other corrosions could also combine with the
cavitation erosion in the failures.
 C a s e S t u d y : T h e G a l v a n i c C o r r o s i o n Te s t
• Galvanic corrosion occurs as one metal in
contact with another, more noble metals in
a corrosive electrolyte.
• One of the principles in machine design is
to avoid selecting dissimilar metals in the
same unit.
• There is approximately 0.7 V of the
potential difference between aluminium
alloy and the none-passive 304 stainless
steel, but the chemicals are inhibitive, the
galvanic corrosion would be dramatically
diminished due to the anode/cathode have
been polarized.
• The result of galvanic corrosion test:
diminished due to the polarization
• No corrosion has been observed on the
sample surface after the test
 Case Study: The Microscopic features of the
cavitation erosion on the non-anodized Al alloy
• The erosion surface appears to have
large round and overlapped pits in
the size of 1–2 mm. The pit surface
is very smooth, and is not covered
with any corrosion products.
• These features indicate that the
surface was mechanically attacked
by the bubble implosion.
• As aluminium is a soft metal,
material could be directly removed
from the surface by the implosion,
forming the large round pits with
smooth surface.
Fig. 6.The macro features of the cavitation erosion on the non-
anodised aluminium alloy component (stereomicroscope 10x).
 Case Study: ESEM examination on the eroded
surface

Fig. 8.The cluster pattern of the small round overlapped-pits on

cavitation erosion initial area of the non-anodised component (ESEM
Fig. 7.The cavitation erosion initial area and cavitation eroded area on
400x)
the non-anodised aluminium alloy component (ESEM 51x).
Fig. 8 displays the details of the cluster patterns. It is
The very smooth surface in the pits further confirms the composed of the round overlapped pits in a parallel line
mechanical removal process. In the areas where pattern, forming ‘ditches’. The average size of the small
cavitation erosion initiated, there are the patterns of the pits is approximately 100lm. These small round pits
very small pits in clusters. could be associated with the small bubbles imploding
 Case Study: ESEM examination on the eroded
surface

From the above findings, it can be

speculated that there may be different sizes
of the bubbles in the cavitation process. As
different bubble implosion releases
different energy, the size of the pits should
correspond to the size of the bubbles
involved in their formation.
Fig. 9.The micro pit on the small pit surface of the non-anodised
component (ESEM 1600x)

Some micro pits can be distinguished on the pit surface.

The size of the micro pits is approximately 5lm. These
micro pits could be associated with other micro bubble
activities
 Case Study: The cavitation erosion on the
anodised aluminium alloy

Fig. 10. The cavitation erosion on the surface of the anodised Fig. 11.In situ EDS1 analysis results on the anodised surface.
aluminium alloy component (ESEM 400x).
The anodised film was gradually eroded away by the Fig 11. The main composition of the surface was Al2O3,
imploding bubbles. The small round pits can be which confirms that the surface was the anodised film.
discerned on the margin Trace amount of other elements could be from the
coolant chemicals
 Case Study: The cavitation erosion on the
anodised aluminium alloy

Fig. 12.In situ EDS2 analysis results on the margin of eroded Fig. 13.In situ EDS3 analysis results on the eroded surface.
region.
EDS2 analysis results on the margin of eroded area. EDS3 analysis results on the bottom of the large pit.
These results indicate that the compositions still belong These results show the increased aluminium content and
to the anodised film. But the anodised film had gradually the decreased oxygen content, indicating that the
eroded away through implosion anodised film had been totally eroded by implosion
 Case Study: The rectifications
There are three stages in the cavitation process:
• The incubation stage
The incubation stage is an undetectable weight-loss period. Different materials have the
different incubation time in this stage
• The accumulation stage
Accelerated material removal occurs. The erosion rates vary significantly with different
materials. Literature indicates that the erosion rate in aluminium alloy is 10 time higher
than that of stainless steels
• The attenuation stage
In attenuation stage, the erosion rate decreases due to rougher surface absorbing
implosion impact energy. For soft materials, such as aluminium alloy, no significant
attenuation stage appears

In this case study, the most straightforward solution to the cavitation erosion is to replace the
aluminium alloy with stainless steel. Additionally, this solution would also totally remove the
possibility of galvanic corrosion as any material dissimilarity issue would be eliminated entirely.
 Case Study: The root causes of the bubble
formation
• The root cause of the bubble formation is due to the liquid pressure variations.
• The author believes that the changes of the liquid surface tension and vapour
pressures were the root cause of the cavitation erosion in this case study.
• The anti-foaming additives in turbine lubricant oils, can ‘‘kill’’ the fine bubbles.
Further research on
• The additives may find a different solution to cavitation rectification
 Case Study: Conclusions

• The premature failure of the nozzle unit in the plastic injection moulding
machines was through cavitation erosion.
• The microscopic features of the cavitation erosion on the soft aluminium alloy
have its own distinct characteristics.
• The root cause of the cavitation erosion was the alteration in surface tension and
the vapour pressures of the coolant due to the flush and dosing chemicals in the
maintenance process.
 REFERENCE

• Liu, W. 2014. The microscopic features of cavitation erosion and the

solution in the plastic injection moulding machines. Engineering
Failure Analysis. Elsevier. Vol 36. page 253 – 261.