Investigation of steel and alloy erosion under solid particle impact

Experiments have been performed in which titanium alloy VT-1, steel ShKh15, steel 40Kh2N2MA and stainless steel 12Kh18N10T were eroded by silica sand particles at the room temperature and normal impingement conditions. Two ranges of particle size were applied: 0.100-0.160 mm and 0.200-0.315 mm. It has been established that the steady state erosion rate is an exponential function of the impacting particle velocity ranging from 30 m/s to 110 m/s. The values of exponents for these materials vary from 2.13 (ShKh15 steel) to 2.27 (12Kh18N10T steel). It was found that the velocity exponent in the erosion prediction model for aluminum alloy D16T is equal to 2.04 at 293 K and it makes 2.49 at 136 K. The erosion rate of this material increases more than four times with temperature decreasing from 293 K to 120 K.