Elucidating the specific and combined effects of particle size, impact angle, velocity and stress from an external load on the slurry erosion of mild steel S275JR

Erosion is known to cost the oil and gas industry millions of dollars in maintenance and repairs. While velocity, particle size, angle of impact and material properties such as hardness of particle and target are known to affect erosion rate, little is known about the effects of the stress state of the target itself. This paper studies the individual and combined effects of particle size, impact angle, velocity and stress from an external tensile load on the erosion rates of mild steel S275JR. Loads up to 70% of yield strength (YS) was applied and the erosion rates were determined from the weight loss of the samples. Microscopy analyses, hardness tests, 2D and 3D profilometry studies were also carried out.