Single Pyramid-Shaped Particle Impact on Metallic Surfaces: A 3D Numerical Simulation and Experiment

Material removal caused by particles impacting is a typical form of particle erosion. Study on single particle impact on metallic surfaces helps to understand the fundamental erosion mechanism comprehensively. In this paper, a new study of single pyramid-shaped particle impact was performed. For experimental study, a catapult device was applied to conduct particle impact experiments and the motion trajectories of the particles were captured by a high-speed camera. For numerical study, a coupled FE-SPH numerical model was established and validated by experimental results. Subsequently, the effects of incident parameters, including impact velocity, impact angle and initial orientation, were investigated. The results of single pyramid-shaped particle impacting the metallic surface showed that: (1) A forward rotating particle impact resulted in ‘ploughing’ action, while ‘digging’ action can be observed by a backward impact; (2) For certain combinations of incident parameters, the particle was able to machine the surface and form a chip; (3) The rebound behaviors of pyramid-shaped particles were basically the same as the rhomboid-shaped particle under the same incident conditions, and the relationship between the dimensionless kinetic energy loss and the orientation angle was almost consistent. It must be noticed that the shape of the particles has a significant effect on the profile of the crater, but almost has no effects on the loss of the dimensionless kinetic energy of the model as the orientation angle changes.