Correlating Inertial Acoustic Cavitation Emissions with Material Erosion Resistance

Cavitation measurements and erosion were compared for different separations of the sonotrode tip from the material under test. The maximum variation associated with measurement of cavitation level was between 2.2% and 3.3% when the separation (λ) between the transducer horn and the specimen increased from 0.5 to 1.0 mm, for a transducer (sonotrode) displacement amplitude of 43.5 μm. Experiments conducted at the same transducer displacement amplitude show that the mass loss of the specimen -a measure of erosion- was 67.0 mg (λ = 0.5 mm) and 66.0 mg (λ = 1.0 mm).