Nominal particle size of multi-sized particulate slurries for evaluation of erosion wear and effect of fine particles

Erosion wear at the wetted passages is a critical parameter for selection and design of slurry transportation systems. Erosion wear is a complex phenomenon and is difficult to predict for multi-sized particulate slurries mostly due to representation of its dependence on a single particle size. In the present work, an effort has been made to develop a methodology to determine the nominal particle size of multi-sized particulate slurry for estimation of mass loss due to the erosion wear. It is seen that a particle size representing the mass average of the particles can be taken as the nominal size. The effect of presence of finer particles (<75 μm) in relatively coarse particulate slurry has also been studied separately by conducting experiments in a pot tester. It is observed that a reduction of approximately 40–50% in the wear is possible by addition of finer particles 25% (w/w) of bigger particles.