The solid particle erosion of 12 metals using magnetite erodent

To aid in the materials selection for sales gas control valves, the solid particle erosion behavior of 12 metals was investigated using impinging jets of magnetite particles. The erosion rates were measured for two different particle sizes, two different velocities, and six different impingement angles. In most cases, the dependencies of erosion rate on impingement angle were fit to a published semi-empirical erosion model so that they can be used in future computational fluid dynamics models of the erosion of control valves and other pipeline components. The most erosion resistant materials were found to be tungsten carbide (WC) and Stellite 12, and the least erosion resistant materials were nickel plated A1018 carbon steel and A240 type 410 stainless steel plates. There was no measurable erosion for the WC samples, even for very long exposure times. Scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate the erosion mechanisms. For the nickel plated steel, under some of the studied conditions, the plating was found to delaminate, resulting in a brittle erosive response. For all other tested materials, the measured erosion rates and scanning electron micrographs indicated a ductile erosion mechanism under all the considered conditions. With all other conditions being equal, the erosion rate was found to increase with decreasing particle size. This counter intuitive result was demonstrated to be primarily due to the formation of a thicker hardened layer which also led to a higher degree of particle fragmentation, when utilizing the larger particles as the erodent.

► Solid particle erosion of 12 materials was studied for the first time using magnetite erodent.
► Tungsten carbide did not erode under any of the conditions studied.
► The erosion rate was found to increase with decreasing particle size for all target materials tested.
► Anomalous particle size behavior reported due to formation of hardened layer and particle fragmentation.