Erosive wear behaviour of weld hardfacing high chromium cast irons: effect of erodent particles

Five commercial hardfacing high chromium cast iron alloys were deposited by flux cored arc-welding method. The solid particle erosion studies were carried out using air blast type erosion test rig with 125–150 μm cement clinker, 125–150 μm blast furnace sinter, 100–150 μm silica sand and 125–150 μm alumina particles at a velocity of 50 m s−1 and at impingement angles of 15–90°. The observed erosion rates were rationalised in terms of relative hardness of erodent particles and ability of erodent particle to cause gross fracture of the carbides. The dependence of erosion rate on impingement angle was found to be quite weak for hardfacing high chromium cast iron alloys. However, significant differences were observed in the ranking of the alloys when eroded with different erodent particles. The presence of large volume fraction of carbides proved to be beneficial to the erosion resistance when the erodent particle were softer than the carbides. With silica sand particles at normal impact and with alumina particles large volume fraction of carbides proved detrimental to the erosion resistance. The operating erosion mechanisms involved small-scale chipping, edge effect, indentation and fracture and fatigue.