Erosive wear evaluations

For smaller particle sizes ( 1,000 microns), polyurethanes provide a superior erosive wear resistance to metals at most normal velocities of up to 20m/s. Outside these limits, the materials need to be evaluated in a manner that is as close to real conditions as possible. 

The evaluation of erosive wear of elastomers has not been standardized, and most industries test the erosive wear by using methods designed to simulate conditions relevant to their operations. 

Organizations involved in the evaluations of erosive wear in pipes will often have a replaceable section of pipe that can have the experimental lining in it. Alternatively, there may be a side loop where the experimental material may be placed. 

Hector Mcl. Clark and associates (Clark et al., 2000 Clark and Wong, 1995) developed a wear tester based on a high-speed disk and on a slurry pot to evaluate the nature of erosive wear. Another type of slurry pot test was described by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Blickensderfer et al., 1987) where only a very low angle of incidence was observed. 

There are a number of other erosive wear testers used in industry to suit the type of product being evaluated. All the testers must be compared to actual field results. A major problem with many of the methods is the degradation of the slurry under test. The erosive wear of polyurethanes is very good, so extended testing often needs to be carried out. 

Bozzini, B., Ricotti, M.E., Boniardi, M. and Mele, C. (2003) Evaluation of erosion-corrosion in multiphase flow via CFD and experimental analysis. Wear, 255, 237-245. 

Cerresien Properties. The corrosion behavior of cast Al-2%Mg, Al-2%Mg-3.5% mica and Al-4%Cu-1.5%Mg-2.5% mica in nondearated 3.5% NaCl solution, under simple immersion, erosion-corrosion, and corrosive wear conditions has been evaluated using weight-loss measurements, electrochemical techniques, and scaiming elecuon microscopy. The composites were found to corrode faster than the matrix... 

---