Slurry wear characteristics of zinc-based alloys: Effects of sand content of slurry, silicon addition to alloy system and traversal distance

Abstract

This investigation deals with the observations pertaining to the effects of specimen and slurry compositions as well as traversal distance on the slurry wear response of a zinc-based alloy. The composition of the alloy was altered by adding 4% silicon to it. The slurry composition was varied through changing the concentration of the sand particles in the range of 0–60% that were suspended in the (liquid) electrolyte. The electrolyte contained 4 g sodium chloride and 5 mL concentrated sulphuric acid dissolved in 10 L of water. The slurry wear tests were conducted at a speed of 7.02 m/s over the traversal distance range of 15–500 km. The wear rate increased initially with traversal distance, attained a maximum and decreased thereafter irrespective of the specimen and test environment. However, the wear rate peaks were less prominent in the liquid plus sand environments than the liquid-only medium. Further, the wear rate peak in the liquid-only medium appeared at a shorter traversal distance than the one in the sand containing slurries. Addition of sand particles to the electrolyte reduced the wear rate of the samples to 5%–15% depending on the sand concentration of the slurry. Moreover, intermediate (40%) sand content led to a maximum wear rate when compared with in the liquid plus sand media. However, this maximum was still less than in the liquid-only medium. The silicon containing alloy suffered from higher wear rates than the silicon free alloy samples when tested in the liquid-only medium. On the contrary, the trend reversed in liquid plus 20% and 40% sand environments whereas a mixed response was noted in the slurry containing 60% sand. In the latter case, the presence of silicon proved deleterious initially while an opposite trend was observed at longer traversal distances. The wear response of the samples was discussed in terms of specific features of their microconstituents like silicon and the predominant material removal mechanism in a given set of experimental conditions. The observed behaviour of the alloys was also substantiated further through the characteristics of their affected surface and subsurface regions.