This study deals with the measurement and the subsequent signal analysis of acoustic emission and current noise recorded during continuous slurry erosion of a metallic target in a corrosive environment. According to a phenomenologic model, the localized corrosion results from the repetitive damage caused by particle impacts. The fluctuations of the acoustic signal and of the electrochemical signal both can be modeled as a shot-noise-like process.

The main purpose of this work is to compare two processing techniques for the fluctuating signals: time analysis (mean value) and spectral analysis (power spectral density [PSD] spectrum) to determine the more suitable signal treatment. Another purpose is also to quantify the balance between the mechanical wear and the corrosive damage of the abraded metallic target. It will be shown that the mean value of the RMS acoustic signal, A(t), and also the PSD of A(t), are related to the mechanical wear of the target and allow real-time measurement of the actual mechanical perturbation in terms of the mass of the ablated material.