Slurry pump side-liner wear: comparison of some laboratory and field results

The current work compares some slurry pump lab wear results with the wear f ound across different field applications with d(85) particle size ranging f rom 100 to 4000 mum. Side-liner wear life data has been collected for two d ifferent impeller geometries and two different material classes (cast iron and natural rubber). Different field wear patterns have been photographed a nd categorised on the basis of particle size. The field wear patterns showe d close similarity to the lab wear patterns particularly in the areas of lo calised gouging. Wear rates are also compared for the different geometries. Overall trend of wear with particle size for the white iron parts was simi lar to the grey iron lab tests albeit at significantly lower wear rates. In general, the wear with the rubber side-liner was less at smaller particle sizes but greater for particles larger than d(85) of about 700 mum. (C) 200 1 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.