Authors: G.P.Tilly a
a National Gas Turbine Establishment, PyestockGt. Britain
Source: This paper was published in 2003, Volume 14, Issue 1 of Wear.
Abstract: The sand erosion behavior of a wide variety of metals and plastics has been studied using quartz at 340 ft./sec in an air blast rig. It is shown that the softer materials can exhibit an incubation period prior to stabilising to a linear erosion rate. For impacts at 90° to the surface, this may initially involve deposition of fragments of the impacting particles. Investigation of the effects of temperature shows that erosion may increase or decrease depending on the material properties but the extent of the change is small in relation to the normal operational range of the alloys studied. Tensile stresses of up to 20 ton/in.2 also have very little effect on the erosion. Calculations of particle trajectories show that for quartz at 340 ft./sec, particles bigger than ~ 20 μm ignore the deflecting forces of the air stream curvature around flat plate and cylindrical targets. Smaller particles may impact at modified angles and velocities or miss altogether. The mechanisms of sand erosion are discussed and it is suggested that the brittle and ductile components may be governed by different dependences on the basic mechanical properties.
CPFD and staff have distribution rights for some publications. Contact us with any questions.