Mitigation of cavitation erosion using laser-induced periodic surface structures

By nanotexturing a metallic surface using Laser-Induced Periodical Surface Structures (LIPSS), the effect of laser induced cavitation erosion was investigated against an untreated surface. The LIPSS-scribed surface reduced eroded volume by a factor of more than 3, in a scenario of 200,000 cavitation events. The cavitation bubbles were generated at a predetermined normalized distance above each surface, and 4 different number of cavitation events were tested (50,000 to 200,000). The eroded area was observed using an optical microscope and the eroded volume was quantified by the means of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). According to supplemental experiments, the significant difference in eroded volume between both surfaces may be attributed to the lower quantity of remnant bubbles attached to the LIPSS-modified surface between cavitation events. Hence, nanotexturing may be a viable solution for protecting against erosion due to its simplicity of manufacturing and scalability.