Modeling solid-particle erosion of ductile alloys

A model for solid-particle erosion behavior of ductile alloys is presented. The model incorporates the mechanical properties of the alloys at the defo rmation conditions associated with solid-particle erosion processes (i.e., temperature and strain-rate conditions), as well as the evolution of these properties during the erosion-induced deformations. An erosion parameter wa s formulated based on consideration of the energy loss during erosion and i ncorporates the material's hardness, along with the high-strain-rate stress -strain response of the alloy. This erosion parameter shows a good correlat ion to experimentally measured erosion rates for a variety of industrially important materials. A methodology is presented to determine the proper mec hanical properties to incorporate into the erosion parameter based on a phy sical model of the erosion mechanism in ductile materials.