Cavitation erosion-corrosion resilient surfaces through reciprocating friction processing

Here, an excellent cavitation erosion-corrosion resistance of stainless steel using a novel severe surface deformation technique, reciprocating friction processing (RFP) was demonstrated. The RFP treated stainless steel showed nano-grained, nano-twinned microstructure along with high dislocation density. The RFP treated steel significantly surpassed the performance of advanced structural materials including high entropy alloy (A(0.1)CoCrFeNi) and complex concentrated alloy (SiC reinforced A(0.1)CoCrFeNi), demonstrating the lowest cavitation erosion and cavitation erosion-corrosion rates for this class of materials. The RFP treated steel demonstrated outstanding corrosion behavior in 3.5% NaCl solution as well. The unusual performance of RFP treated steel is attributed to its excellent mechanical strength and strong passivating behavior.