Determination of wear coefficients for erosive wear prediction through Coriolis wear testing

Abstract

In simulation of erosive wear on wet-end components (i.e. casing, impeller and liners) of centrifugal slurry pumps using numerical models, the determination of wear coefficients is critical to achieve reasonable and consistent accuracy on wear life prediction. In the present research, work relevant to the Coriolis wear tester is briefly reviewed. Through Coriolis wear testing and analysis, wear coefficients (or specific energy coefficients) have been determined for different slurry conditions over a large range of particle sizes. Several types of wear resistant white iron alloys including that specified in ASTM G75 were selected as target materials in this study. Considering the fact that many wear models assumed mono particle size, slurries with wide, narrow and semi-narrow banded (D50/D85 size) solids particles were used during the Coriolis wear tests to investigate the impact of particle distribution on wear coefficients. The test results obtained showed that the wear rates (and so the wear coefficients) of all tested materials increase rapidly over a broad particle size range. Beside particle sizes, other particle properties such as particle shape and size distribution also exhibited significant effect on the values of wear coefficients. Silica sand and copper ore slurries were used as examples. Within the examined target materials, the wear coefficients and wear resistance had relatively strong correlation with the hardness of the materials. Correlation deviations have also been explained from the viewpoint of material microstructures.