Wear behavior of ceramic nozzles in sand blasting treatments

Sand blasting nozzle is the most critical part in the sand blasting equipment. Ceramics being with high wear resistance have great potentials as the sand blasting nozzle materials. In this paper, monolithic B4C and Al2O3/(W,Ti)C ceramic composite were developed to be used as nozzle materials. The wear behavior of nozzles made from these ceramic materials was compared by determining the cumulative mass loss and the erosion rates. Effect of the factors that influence the nozzle wear was investigated. Results showed that the hardness of the nozzles plays an important role with respect to its erosion wear in sand blasting processes. The monolithic B4C nozzles being with high hardness exhibited lower erosion rates, while the Al2O3/(W,Ti)C nozzles with relative low hardness showed higher erosion rates under the same test conditions. Studies of the worn surface of the ceramic nozzles demonstrated that monolithic B4C nozzles exhibited a brittle fracture induced removal process, while Al2O3/(W,Ti)C nozzles showed mainly a plowing type of material removal mode.