Experimental study on erosive wear of some metallic materials using Coriolis wear testing approach

The erosive wear behavior of selected high chromium white iron and aluminum alloys have been experimentally studied by means of Coriolis wear testing and microscopic examinations. Test results suggested that high chromium white iron and aluminum alloy represent two different groups of metallic materials, "hard-brittle" and "soft-ductile," which experienced significantly different wear patterns and mechanisms in Coriolis wear testing. It appeared that the material loss on white iron samples was generated mostly by sliding wear along with a limited amount of low angle impact fatigue cracking from solid particles in slurry. In contrast, aluminum alloy suffered its weight loss at a much higher rate by the combination of mechanisms including sliding wear and low angle impact wear through microscale deformation, cutting, plowing and work hardening. In the present study, the correlation between wear rate and particle size on the tested materials was discussed. It is proposed that Coriolis wear testing is a valuable and practical approach to simulate and study erosive wear behaviors of materials within a centrifugal pump or similar slurry transportation systems. Factors which should be considered in wear modeling and prediction have also been addressed. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.