Cavitation erosion under static applied stress and/or alternating stress was studied using steel specimens which were set in close proximity to an oscillating horn in ion-exchanged water. Effect of applied stress on erosion is remarkably large at a suitable cavitation intensity and quite small at either higher or lower cavitation intensity. However, this effect is difficult to determine because the ratio of cavitation intensity to applied stress becomes larger at higher intensity and the cavitation damage is very much smaller at lower intensity. The erosion damage (weight loss and weight loss rate) under static applied stress or alternating stress does not vary in a monotonic fashion, but first decreases to a minimum, then increases to a peak and decreases again with increasing applied stress. Generally, applied stress decreases erosion damage over all stress levels except for given limited levels of applied tensile stress and alternating stress. Erosion damage under applied tensile stress decreases due to the fact that erosion cracks propagate perpendicular to the surface and erosion particles are not easily formed. Under applied compressive stress, erosion cracks are seldom initiated and then propagate diagonally to the surface, resulting in decreased erosion damage. It is found that applied stress increases the erosion damage up to only about 10 percent in the worst case in our experiments. cho, Kanazawa, 921 Japan) kui, 910 Japan)