Experimental Investigation on Slurry Erosion Behavior of 304L Steel, Grey Cast Iron, and High Chromium White Cast Iron

The materials used for the slurry transportation system experience erosion wear due to the impact of suspended solid particles. In the present experimental investigation, a large size slurry pot tester was used to investigate the slurry erosion behavior of steel 304L, grey cast iron, and high chromium white cast iron in the velocity range of 9.0-18.5 m/s. Experiments were conducted by rotating the wear specimens in the pot tester at 1% weight concentration of Indian standard sand. The erosion behavior of the three target materials was evaluated by varying the orientation angle from 15 to 90 deg and particle size from 256 to 655 mu m. The erosion rate was found to increase with velocity having power index value varying between 2 and 3, which increases with an increase in impact angle and depends on the target material. The erosion rate of the material also increases with the increase in particle size with the power index varying between 0.8 and 1.4 depending on the target material. No significant change was noticed in the mechanism of erosion of the target materials with the variation in velocity in the present range of test conditions. Empirical correlations are proposed to estimate the total erosion rate of all the three materials as a contribution of cutting and deformation wear.