The effect of stacking fault energy on the erosion behaviour of copper alloys at oblique impact

Abstract

The major aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of the stacking fault energy (SFE) on the solid particle erosion rate at oblique impact angles. Such an investigation is essential to establish whether erosion is a deformation- or a fracture-controlled process. Towards this purpose, experiments were carried out at an impact angle of 30° on a series of copper alloys with a wide range of stacking fault energies using spherical steel shot travelling at a velocity of 40 m s⁻¹ as the erodent. The experimental results clearly show that the erosion rate decreases with decreasing SFE, thereby indicating that erosion is a deformation-controlled process. An inverse relationship between the erosion rate and the strain-hardening exponent is also observed. In addition, the erosion rate at 30° is lower than the erosion rate at 90°. Finally, it is demonstrated that the localization model for erosion is capable of rationalizing all these observations.