A process for designing and manufacturing a cavitation erosion resistant component. The process includes selecting a base material for use in a cavitation erosion susceptible environment and conducting a uniaxial loading test on a sample of the selected material. Thereafter, atomic force microscopy (AFM) topography on a surface of the tested sample is conducted and used to provide a surface strain analysis. The process also includes crystal plasticity finite element modeling (CPFEM) of uniaxial loading and CPFEM nanoindentation of the selected material over a range of values for at least one microstructure parameter. A subrange of microstructure parameter values that correlate to CPFEM nanoindentation results that provide increased CE resistance is determined. Finally, a component having an average microstructure parameter value that falls within the subrange of microstructure parameter values is manufactured.