ABSTRACT
The present work reports the erosive wear of martensitic stainless steel under slurry erosion conditions. The experimental parameters were; slurry concentration, slurry speed, particle size and test duration. Response data was generated by systematically varying the experimental parameters. A slurry erosion pot tester was used to conduct experiments on martensitic stainless steel specimens with silica sand particles. The slurry concentration was varied from 10% to 40%, and particle size was varied from 53–73 µm to 300–425 µm. Slurry erosion testing gives the mass loss, which is converted into volume loss and the wear rate was calculated. Slurry erosive wear rate exhibited an almost linear relationship with respect to the test duration. Results show that the wear rate of the material decreased as time increased. The size of erodent particles had a greater effect on wear rate of material as compared to other parameters. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis of the eroded surface revealed the important mechanisms of material removal.
