A new concept in liquid jet erosion: Commissioning and proving trials

A major source of industrial wear problems is through the erosive component wear from hard particles carried in a jet of fluid. There are currently no recognised standards for this type of test. In view of this the National Physical Laboratory has had a new concept liquid jet erosion rig designed and built by Phoenix Tribology Ltd., Newbury, United Kingdom. The rig uses a bypass valve system to regulate jet pressure (and hence velocity). Sand/water mixes were used as the erosive jet stream, with pickup of sand from a tank being measured and correlated with the (bulk) sand:water volume ratio. Commissioning trials were conducted with both carbon steel and tungsten carbide based hardmetal.