The erosion of aluminum by solid particle impingement at normal incidence

A rotating arm apparatus was used to study the erosion of polycrystalline aluminum by 1.58 mm diameter WC-6% Co spheres impinging at normal incidence. Dynamic hardness values were obtained from measurements of the impact craters and compared with corresponding quasi-static values. In addition, material removal was monitored gravimetrically, and quantitative information was obtained on threshold and incubation phenomena and steady state erosion behavior. The variation of the velocity dependence of erosion with the number of particle impacts was derived from these data. Supporting scanning electron microscope studies suggest that the mechanism of material removal responsible for ductile erosion at near normal incidence is somewhat different from that which operates at shallower angles. The similarities and differences between these mechanisms are discussed, and it is suggested that together they account for the characteristic variation of ductile erosion with angle of impingement.     

Experimental investigations of mechanical properties and slurry erosion behaviour of high velocity oxy fuel and plasma sprayed Cr2O3–50%Al2O3 coatings on CA6NM turbine steel under hydro accelerated conditions

Slurry erosion behaviour of HVOF (High Velocity Oxy Fuel) and plasma sprayed coatings on CA6NM hydraulic turbine steel has been investigated at different levels of various parameters. The Cr₂O₃–50%Al₂O₃ composite powder was prepared and deposited on CA6NM steel samples to get the uniform thickness coatings. The surface roughness, porosity and microhardness of as-coated samples were measured. The as-coated samples were subjected to SEM/EDS analysis to evaluate the surface microstructure of the developed coatings. Erosion tests were performed on self made erosion test rig under hydro accelerated conditions. The study reveals that the velocity, impact angle and slurry concentration were the most significant parameters, influencing the erosion rate of these coatings. The average particle size had least affect on the erosion rate. HVOF-coated samples showed better corrosion resistance as compared to plasma-coated samples due to high hardness of HVOF-coated CA6NM samples.     

Particle erosion behaviour of boiler tube materials at elevated temperature

The particle erosion behaviour of typical boiler tube materials, including carbon steel, low alloy steels and austenitic steels, at elevated temperatures up to 650 °C was studied using irregularly shaped silica particles. Using 304 steel, the influence of various factors, namely particle concentration, velocity and impingement angle, was examined. The erosion behaviour did not seem to differ significantly from that obtained at room temperature. The erosion rate was a linear function of the particle concentration. The velocity exponents obtained at 300 and 650 °C were both approximately 2.8. The peak impingement angle was at acute angles of 20° – 30°, with a tendency for the peak angle to be slightly higher at 300 °C than at 650 °C. However, the temperature effect was clearly observed in that the erosion rate at acute impingement angles increased significantly with the temperature suggesting that the steel tends to show a behaviour more typical of ductile materials as the temperature is increased. The erosion morphologies at low angles indicated cutting for every temperature used and the lengths of the cutting tracks obtained at 20° also increased with temperature.The erosion rate varied significantly between materials, e.g. the alloy (Incoloy) 800 eroded the most and the 12Cr-1Mo-V steel eroded the least at every temperature used, although every material showed an increase in the erosion rate with temperature. From an attempt to compare the erosion rate data obtained at 20° for every material at every temperature with the tensile properties of the steels, it was found that the yield strength of materials correlates reasonably well with the erosion rate. The erosion rate was apparently proportional to the reciprocal of the yield strength, suggesting that the flow stress included in Finnie's cutting theory may be conveniently substituted by the yield strength multiplied by a constant.     

Wear Performance Forecasting of Chopped Fiber–Reinforced Polymer Composites: A New Approach Using Dimensional Analysis

Solid particle erosion of polymer matrix composites is a complex process in which wear occurs from the target surface by impingement of rigid sand particles in an air medium. The rate of material removal (RMR), also referred to as the erosion rate, mainly depends on target material parameters and the erosion conditions such as impact angle, impact velocity, and erodent size. A new semi-empirical model for prediction of the erosion rate of polymer matrix composites has been developed using a dimensional analysis technique based on Buckingham's π theorem. The predictive model analytically rests upon parameters related to chopped glass fiber composites, erodent (target material properties), and operating variables that mainly affect the erosion process of chopped glass fiber–vinyl ester resin composites. The forecasting ability of the predictive model has been assessed and verified by experimental investigations for chopped glass fiber–reinforced vinyl ester resin (VGF) composites. Validation of the theoretical erosion rates obtained from the predictive model showed that they were in good agreement with the experimentally determined erosion rates, where the average error range was estimated to be ～10 to ～20%.     

Effect of Volume Fraction of Primary Alpha Phase on Solid Particle Erosion Behavior of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy

The present article evaluates the influence of independent control factors such as percentage of primary alpha phase, impact velocity, impingement angle, and erodent size on solid particle erosion behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy using a statistical approach. Microstructural variation in terms of different percentage of primary alpha phase of investigated alloy has been introduced by solution annealing it at different temperatures followed by thermal aging. Solid particle erosion tests have been carried out using a sand blast–type test rig following an experimental schedule based on Taguchi's orthogonal arrays. It is observed that erosion rate and the value of percentage elongation decreased with an increase in the content of primary alpha phase from 10 to 20% and then increased for the value corresponding to the content of 30% primary alpha phase in this alloy. We observed that the solid particle erosion behavior of the investigated alloy consisting of various percentages of primary alpha phase is related to their ductility. Among all four control factors, impact velocity of the erodent has been found to be the most significant control factor influencing the solid particle erosion behavior of this alloy followed by impingement angle, percentage of primary alpha phase, and erodent size. Impact velocity has greatest static influence of 91.35%, impingement angle has an influence of 4.69%, percentage of primary alpha phase has an influence of 2.28%, and erodent size has an influence of 0.42% on solid particle erosion having R² = 0.99. Material loss during solid particle erosion of this alloy was found to be ductile in nature. Ploughing or pile-up leading to platelet formation is the primary mechanism of material loss during erosion of the alloy.     

Erosion of Low-Carbon Steel by Coal Particles

The erosion of low-carbon steel, in the annealed and water-quenched condition, by coal particles, has been studied as a function of particle size, velocity, and angle of impingement. It was found that both unicrostructures, pearlitic and martensitic, showed a maximum erosion at an angle of impingement of between 20 and 30°. Under all condition of testing, the martensitic structure showed the higher rate of erosion. The coal particles were found to fracture on impact with the steel surfaces. The amount of fracture was found to increase will increased velocity and particle size. Erosion rate was found to increase with decreasing particle size and was related to particle velocity (V) through a power law relationship of the form: E = kVⁿ, where the exponent (n) has valves between 2.6 and 3.7. Scanning electron microscopy studies indicated that only the harder mineral constituents in the coal, such as pyrite and quartz, were responsible for the erosion of the steel.     

Analysis of boiler-tube erosion by the technique of acoustic emission Part I. Mechanical erosion

This paper investigates the mechanical erosion of the metal tubes in bagasse-fired boilers with the aid of the acoustic emission technique. By studying the material removal under various collision conditions, the paper analyzes the dependence of the erosion wear upon the impact angle, velocity, size and concentration of the particles. It was found that the material removal mechanisms were mainly dependent on the particle collision angle and fell into four regimes characterized by rubbing and scratching, cutting and cracking, forging and extrusion as well as sputtering and adhesion. The highest wear rate took place with the cutting and cracking mechanism when the particle collision angle was in the range of 20–30°. The variation of the acoustic emission energy confirmed the conclusions. Finally, three simple formulae were developed to show the dependence of the erosion wear upon the main erosion parameters.     

Solid particle erosion behaviour of Ti6Al4V alloy

Abstract

The effects of particle impingement angle, impingement velocity and erodent particle size on the erosion rate and surface morphology of the Ti6Al4V alloy have been investigated comprehensively in order to evaluate solid particle erosion behaviour of Ti6Al4V alloy. Samples were eroded in a specially designed sandblasting system under various parameters using alumina (Al₂O₃) erodent particles. Surface morphology investigations were examined by scanning electron microscope using various analysis and modes (energy dispersive X-ray analysis, elemental mapping and compositional contrast). Ti6Al4V alloy showed ductile behaviour with a maximum erosion rate at 30° impingement angle. Erosion rate of Ti6Al4V alloy increased with increases in velocity and decreased with increases in erodent particle size. Scanning electron microscopy investigations of eroded surfaces of Ti6Al4V alloy samples reveal the dominant erosion mechanism such as microploughing, microcutting and plastic deformation. Embedded erodent particles on the surfaces of Ti6Al4V alloy nearly at all particle impingement angles and velocities were clearly detected.     

Finite element modeling of solid particle erosion in AISI 4140 steel and nickel–tungsten carbide composite material produced by the laser-based powder deposition process

A FE dynamic model was developed to study the slurry erosion in Ni–WC composite material that considers both Ni and WC separately. The model was verified by the measured erosion rate and the eroded surface topography. The verified model was used to study the effect of material composition and different erodent particle characteristics such as impingement angle, velocity and the shape on the erosion rate, stress distribution and internal energy of the target material. The results show that the volume fraction of the Ni-matrix determines the energy absorption within the target material and the WC is responsible for minimizing the erodent attack. It was shown that a soft interlayer can provide more resistant to erosion in a multilayered Ni–WC deposit.     

Solid particle erosion of unidirectional carbon fibre reinforced polyetheretherketone composites

The solid particle erosion behaviour of unidirectional carbon fibre (CF) reinforced polyetheretherketone (PEEK) composites has been characterised. The erosion rates of these composites have been evaluated at different impingement angles (15–90°) and at three different fibre orientations (0, 45, and 90°). The particles used for the erosion measurements were steel balls with diameter of 300–500 μm and impact velocities of 45 and 85 m/s. The unidirectional CF reinforced PEEK composites showed semi-ductile erosion behaviour, with maximum erosion rate at 60° impingement angle. The fibre orientations had a significant influence on erosion rate. The morphology of eroded surfaces was examined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Possible erosion mechanisms are discussed.     

High temperature erosion of Ti(Mo)C–Ni cermets

The resistance of Ti(Mo)C–Ni cermets of different binder content to solid particle erosion was evaluated at 25, 350 and 650 °C. The elevated temperature erosion of cermets containing 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 wt.% of titanium carbides and produced from the powder of initially different ratios of Ni to Mo were tested with the help of specially designed centrifugal particle accelerator using silica as the abrasive. Erosion rate was related to both microstructure developed during sintering and materials removal mechanisms operating at the test conditions (impact angle of particles jet was 30° and 90° and velocity was 50 ms⁻¹). The erosion rate decreases with the increase of TiC and Mo contents in the composite. At 650 °C the process of tribo-oxidation affected the material performance to a great extent. The morphology of the worn surface was analyzed with SEM to determine the erosion mechanisms.     

Influence of microstructure on erosion resistance of steels

Erosive wear due to solid particle impingement is a very intensive degradation process of surface layers of metallic materials. Erosion resistance is influenced by the working conditions (impact angle, impact velocity of solid particles, size, shape, hardness and amount of impinging particles) and the parameters of the worn material like hardness and microstructure. In our experiments some structural and tool steels were tested by slurry with SiO₂ particles at a flow velocity of 20 m/s. The microstructures of the tested steels were modified in a broad range by changing the conditions of their heat treatment. Increasing pearlite share in the structure of annealed carbon and low-alloyed steels has a positive effect on their erosion resistance. The growing carbon content in the tested hardened steels increases their erosion resistance. Maximum erosion resistance was found in hardened chromium ledeburite steel. Hardened high-speed steel HS 11-0-4 in spite of its high hardness has lower erosion resistance than ledeburitic chomium steels. An increasing amount of retained austenite and decreasing carbide and martensite shares with growing quenching temperature of the tested ledeburitic chromium steels leads to the reduction of their erosion resistance.     

Determination of particle impacts and impact energy in the erosion of X65 carbon steel using acoustic emission technique

An in-situ acoustic emission (AE) monitoring technique has been implemented in a submerged jet impingement (SIJ) system in an effort to investigate the effect of sand particle impact on the degradation mechanism of X65 carbon steel pipeline material in erosion conditions.A detailed analysis of the acoustic events' count rate enabled the number of impacts per second to be quantified for a range of flow velocities (7, 10, 15 m/s) and solid loadings (0, 50, 200, 500 mg/L) in a nitrogen-saturated solution at 50 °C. The number of impacts obtained from acoustic signals showed a strong agreement with theoretical prediction for flow velocities 7 and 10 m/s. A deviation between practical readings and theory is observed for flow velocity of 15 m/s which may be due to error from detected emissions of multiple rebounded particles.Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used in conjunction with particle tracking to model the impingement system and predict the velocity and impact angle distribution on the surface of the sample. Data was used to predict the kinetic energy of the impacts and was correlated with the measured AE energy and material loss from gravimetric analysis. The results demonstrate that AE is a useful technique for quantifying and predicting the erosion damage of X65 pipeline material in an erosion–corrosion environment.     

Slurry Erosion Wear Resistance and Impact-Induced Phase Transformation of Titanium Alloys

Erosion wear resistance and impact-induced phase transformation of titanium alloys TA2 (pure Ti), TC4 (Ti–6Al–4V) and TC11 (Ti–6.5Al–3.5Mo–1.5Zr–0.3Si) were investigated using a slurry jet tester. The slurry erosion wear resistance of TA2 is comparable to that of 304 stainless steel, especially at the impingement angle 90°. Although TC4 and TC11 have higher hardness, TA2 possesses the best erosion wear resistance except TC11 at 15°. With the increasing erosion time, the eroded surface hardness of TC11 at the impingement angle 90° increases and then decreases, while the volume loss rate drops in the first 15 min, then increases until 30 min, and then slightly decreases again. With XRD characterization and SEM observation, erosion-induced phase transformation from metastable β-phase to α-phase is proved on the surface of titanium alloy TC11. And the thickness of visible phase transformation layer is about 10 μm. Phase transformation influences the erosive wear mechanism of titanium alloys. At the impingement angle of 30°, the material removal of TC4 and TC11 can be described as micro-plowing and lip extruding, while plowing mark is not a typical surface morphology of TA2, indicating a better work-harden ability. So, stabilizing β-phase can be an effective way to improve the erosion wear resistance of titanium alloys.     

Erosive wear behaviour of weld hardfacing high chromium cast irons: effect of erodent particles

Five commercial hardfacing high chromium cast iron alloys were deposited by flux cored arc-welding method. The solid particle erosion studies were carried out using air blast type erosion test rig with 125–150 μm cement clinker, 125–150 μm blast furnace sinter, 100–150 μm silica sand and 125–150 μm alumina particles at a velocity of 50 m s⁻¹ and at impingement angles of 15–90°. The observed erosion rates were rationalised in terms of relative hardness of erodent particles and ability of erodent particle to cause gross fracture of the carbides. The dependence of erosion rate on impingement angle was found to be quite weak for hardfacing high chromium cast iron alloys. However, significant differences were observed in the ranking of the alloys when eroded with different erodent particles. The presence of large volume fraction of carbides proved to be beneficial to the erosion resistance when the erodent particle were softer than the carbides. With silica sand particles at normal impact and with alumina particles large volume fraction of carbides proved detrimental to the erosion resistance. The operating erosion mechanisms involved small-scale chipping, edge effect, indentation and fracture and fatigue.     

Solid particle erosion of CFRP composite with different laminate orientations

The solid particle erosion behavior of epoxy base unidirectional and multidirectional carbon fiber reinforced plastic composites was investigated. The erosion rates of these composites were evaluated at various impingement angles (15–90°) with a particle velocity of 70 m/s. Irregular SiC particles with an average diameter of 80 μm was used. The dependence of impingement angle on the erosive wear resembled the conventional ductile behavior with maximum erosion rate at 15–30° impingement angle. The erosion rate of unidirectional composites at acute impingement angle was higher for [90] than for [45] and [0] while the difference disappeared at normal impingement angle (90°). On the other hand, the erosion rates of multidirectional laminated composites ([0/90], [45/−45], [90/30/−30] and [0/60/−60]) were not much influenced by the fiber orientation except for 15° impingement angle.     

A study on erosive wear behavior of HVOF sprayed nanostructured WC-CoCr coatings

WC-CoCr cermet coatings were deposited on stainless steel substrate using high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) thermal spray process. The coatings were developed with two different thermal spray powders: one has WC grains of conventional micron size and the other is composed of nanosized (near-nanostructured) grains. HVOF spraying was assisted with in-flight particle temperature and velocity measurement system to control the process parameters that have resulted in quality coatings. Cavitation erosion testing was performed using a vibratory test apparatus based on ASTM standard G32-98. Surface morphology of powders and coatings was examined using the FESEM images, and phase identification was performed by XRD analysis. The erosion behavior of coatings and mechanism of material removal was discussed by examining the microstructure images of worn-out surfaces. WC-CoCr cermet coating deposited with nanosized WC grains exhibited higher cavitation erosion resistance as compared to conventional coating.     

The effect of material composition and operational variables on the erosion of alumina ceramics

The erosion behavior of five different aluminas, with and without the silicate glassy phase and zirconia, was studied in a sandblast type of test rig. The effects of the target parameters, such as microstructure, composition and mechanical properties, and the operational parameters, namely impingement angle, velocity, particle size and erodent concentration, were investigated. Eroded surfaces were examined by scanning electron microscopy to provide an understanding of the erosion mechanisms involved. It was found that the erosion resistance of pure alumina was the lowest and that the resistance was improved by the presence of glassy phase and zirconia in the other aluminas. The erosion resistance increased with increasing hardness and fracture toughness. The erosion damage occurred in the form of intergranular and transgranular cracking, the extent of each type of cracking depending upon the compositions and microstructures of the aluminas.     

Investigation on solid particle erosion behaviour of polyetherimide and its composites

The present investigation reports about, the solid particle erosion behaviour of randomly oriented short E-glass, carbon fibre and solid lubricants (PTFE, graphite, MoS₂) filled polyetherimide (PEI) composites. The erosion rates (ERs) of these composites have been evaluated at different impingement angles (15–90°) and impact velocities (30–88 m/s). Mechanical properties such as tensile strength (S), ultimate elongation to fracture (e), hardness (H_V), Izod impact strength (I) and shear strength (S_s) seems to be controlling the erosion rate of PEI and its composites. Polyetherimide and its glass, carbon fibre reinforced composites showed semi-ductile erosion behaviour with peak erosion rate at 60° impingement angle. However, glass fibre reinforced PEI composite filled with solid lubricants showed peak erosion rate at 60° impingement angle for impact velocities of 30 and 88 m/s, whereas for intermediate velocities (52 and 60 m/s) peak erosion rate observed at 30° impingement angle. It is observed that 20% (w/w) glass fibre reinforcement helps in improving erosive wear resistance of neat PEI matrix. Erosion efficiency (η) values (0.23–8.2%) indicate micro-ploughing and micro-cutting dominant wear mechanisms. The morphology of eroded surfaces was examined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Possible erosion mechanisms are discussed.     

高压轴向柱塞泵配流空蚀特性的评价

分析高轴向柱塞泵的空蚀特性,提出了一种评价空蚀特性的方法,并将其用于泵的实际设计。针对实验中轴向柱塞泵出现的空蚀破坏,对轴向柱塞泵配流过程进行计算流体动力学(CFD,computational fluid dynam ics)解析,得到了配流盘不同位置的速度分布和压力、速度随缸体转角的变化曲线;得出轴向柱塞泵空蚀破坏的机理———空蚀破坏不仅取决于减压槽附近的速度和压力大小,还取决于速度的方向;并且指出如果减压槽处的射流角大小在30°~65°范围内高压轴向柱塞泵就不容易产生空蚀破坏的问题。应用该方法对配流盘进行改进后,从空蚀破坏方面讲,泵的寿命延长到了原来的4倍多。