Erosion–corrosion of carbon steel in simulated tailing slurries

Abstract

This paper investigates the synergism of mechanical and electrochemical factors in erosion–corrosion. The fact that active corrosion in the tailing slurry donates a small portion of total material loss indicates that the synergism results mainly from corrosion-enhanced erosion. As theoretically predicted, the erosion rates in corroding slurry under same hydrodynamic condition is a linear function of logarithmic corrosion rate, suggesting that the corrosion-induced surface plasticity is the dominate mechanism of corrosion-enhanced erosion. The reduced resistance to plastic deformation in surface layer while exposed to corroding media is demonstrated by the in situ micro-hardness measurements. The erosion-enhanced corrosion in flowing slurry of steel is a result of dynamic plastic deformation caused by erodent impingement.