Slurry pot investigation of the influence of erodent characteristics on the erosion resistance of austenitic and duplex stainless steel grades

The erosion resistance of several austenitic and duplex stainless steel grades was investigated with slurry pot tests using erodents with different size fractions and properties. Ranking of the studied stainless steel grades was rather systematic despite the type and properties of the erodent. The results revealed that, on average, duplex stainless steel grades showed better erosion resistance in aqueous slurries than austenitic grades whatever the erodent. Out of the austenitic grades, 316L had higher erosion resistance than that of 904L when tested with high wear-inducing erodents. Regarding the duplex grades, superduplex grade 2507 had the best erosion resistance. The kinetic energy of the erodents explained a substantial amount of the measured erosion mass loss, but chromite for instance was more wear-inducing than expected on the basis of kinetic energy due to the angularity of the particles. Wear surface features of the austenitic grades differed from those of the duplex grades. Reasons for the observed behavior are discussed.