Correlation between erosion behaviour and stacking fault energy in copper alloys

Abstract

The major objective of the present paper is to study the efffect of stacking fault energy on solid particle erosion and to understand the observed behaviour on the basis of existing erosion models. Towards this purpose, erosion experiments were carried out on a series of copper alloys, with stacking fault energies known to lie in the range 8.8-55 mJ/m², using spherical hard steel shots at normal incidence and at a velocity of 40 m/s. The results indicate that the erosion rate correlates well with the stacking fault energy and the strain hardening exponent. This correlation as well as absolute magnitudes of the erosion rate are excellently explained by the localization model for erosion.