Is porosity always detrimental to the wear resistance of materials?—A computational study on the effect of porosity on erosive wear of TiC/Cu composites

It is generally agreed that porosity is detrimental to the wear resistance of materials. However, some experiments show contradictory results or exceptions. We have conducted a computational study to investigate the influence of porosity on solid-particle erosion of composite materials with the aim of clarifying relevant unclear issues. Using TiC/Cu as a sample composite, we have demonstrated that the porosity could be beneficial to the performance of composite materials under some conditions. In order to better understand mechanisms involved and generate guidelines to take advantage of porosity, solid-particle erosion processes of samples having different pore densities, volume fractions and orientations of reinforcements were studied. The synergic influence of the reinforcement/matrix interfacial bond strength and porosity on the erosion resistance was also studied. Consistency between the modeling and reported experimental observations was found.