Abstract
In this paper, the erosion behavior of commonly used stainless steels (AISI 310S, AISI 316), carbon steel (AISI 1020), and Aluminum 6060 were experimentally investigated. The effect of hardness on erosion rates and on the morphologies of eroded surfaces has been evaluated. The experiments were carried out using an air jet erosion tester and utilizing angular alumina as erodent with 50 A mu m particle size. The samples were tested at six different impact angles (15A degrees, 30A degrees, 45A degrees, 60A degrees, 75A degrees, and 90A degrees) using three different impact velocities (30, 60, and 100 m/s). The eroded surfaces were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the evaluation of material degradation. The erosion rates were found to increase with the increase of the alloy bulk hardness and Aluminum 6060 showed maximum erosion resistance. For all specimens, the erosion rates were found to increase with the increase of impact velocity and the maximum erosion rate was found to occur between 15A degrees and 30A degrees impact angles. The obtained results were found to correlate very well with Oka et al. (Wear, 259:95-101, 2005) erosion model.