Cavitation Damage Characteristics of Al and Zn Arc Thermal Spray Coating Layers for Hull Structural Steel

In this study, Al and Zn arc thermal spray coatings were carried out onto the substrate of SS400 steel to improve corrosion resistance and durability of hull structural steel for ship in marine environment. Therefore cavitation-erosion test was conducted to evaluate the durability of painted and thermal spray coated specimens. And then the damaged surface morphology and weight loss were obtained to compare with each other, respectively. As a result, the painted specimen was the poorest cavitation resistance characteristics because surface damage behavior appeared to be exfoliated in bulk shape during the cavitation experiment. And Zn thermal spray coating layer presented the significant surface damage depth due to relatively low surface hardness and local cavitation damage tendency. On the other hand, as a result of the weight loss analysis, the painting layer presented the poorest cavitation resistance and the Al thermal spray coating layer relatively showed the best results after cavitation experiment.