Particle erosion of SUS403 tempered martensitic stainless steel

Abstract

The particle erosion behavior of SUS403 martensitic stainless steel tempered with five different temperatures range from 200 to 600°C were studied as a function of impact angle and hardness. The results indicate that the dominated mechanisms for material removal are cutting and extrusion at low and high impact angles, respectively. A transition of mechanism mixed by cutting and extrusion occurs at medium impact angle. Grain boundary cracking is often found for all impact angles that seem to be one of the major erosion mechanisms for two-phase materials mixed with martensite and ferrite. The erosion rate of all the experimental materials increases first, and then decreases with increase in impact angle. Thus, the maximum erosion rate occurs at the angle between 30° and 45°. At 15° and 30° of impingement, the erosion rate is virtually independent of hardness. While impact angles exceed than 30°, erosion rate increases with increasing hardness. © 2006 ISIJ.