Effect of Impacting Particle Kinetic Energy on Slurry Erosion Wear

Abstract

In the present investigation, the effect of kinetic energy of different materials of the same-sized solid particles is examined on copper as target material using slurry pot tester. Quartz, Silicon carbide and Alumina are the impacting solid particles used for conducting trials. It is understood that the kinetic energy and stress concentration of impacting particles on target surface are responsible for material removal from the target surface, also the effect of erodent property like its shape and density is more dominant at shallow impact angles compared to higher impact angles. However, it is reported in literature that the exponent of velocity varies from 1.87 to 4.00 for ductile materials. Thus, different materials with the same-sized solid particles at constant kinetic energy were used to conduct the experiments. It is observed that for three different materials mass loss for the same mean particle size is nearly constant at 90° orientation angle but variation is found in 30° orientation angle. Further, the SEM micrographs of these solid particles show that alumina have sharp edges and angular nature. Silicon carbide is sub-angular in nature while quartz is blocky in nature. SEM micrographs of eroded surfaces show that at shallow impact angles the material is mainly removed by the platelet mechanism and material is displaced in the direction of flow. Also it is observed that increasing the velocity for quartz particle increases the crater length as compared to other two materials. Erosion wear was found more when alumina are used as the impacting particle due to their angular nature. At normal impact, indentation craters with rim are observed with significance increase in crater size when quartz is used as impacting particles.