Tribological analysis of WC–10Co–4Cr and Ni–20Cr2O3 coating on stainless steel 304

Abstract

Centrifugal slurry pump is widely used for transportation of solids through pipeline in many chemical and mining industries. Erosion wear considered as one of the important parameter which plays significant role in slurry transportation system by affecting both initial cost and life of its components. In the present work, erosion wear due to solid–liquid mixture has been investigated using a slurry erosion pot tester. The erosion tests have been conducted on centrifugal slurry pump material stainless steel (SS304) to establish the influence of rotational speed, particle size, solid concentration and time duration. Sand and fly ash were taken as erodent materials with solid concentrations ranging from 30 to 60% (by weight). The experiments were performed at four different speeds namely 600, 900, 1200 and 1500rpm with time duration of 90, 120, 150 and 180minutes. WC–10Co–4Cr and Ni–20Cr2O3 coating powders were used to increase the erosion wear resistance. Coating powders are deposited on pumping material by supersonic flame of high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) coating. Experimental results indicate that erosion wear has high dependence on rotational speed, time duration and nature of erodent solid particles. Significant improvement in erosion wear resistance was also observed by using WC–10Co–4Cr coating over Ni-20Cr2O3.