The engineering components are subjected to surface damage by slurry abrasion such as transportation pipes carrying ore and mineral slurries, extruders, sand pumps and agitators, Apart from stress, abrasive particle hardness, slurry concentration, particle size and shape significantly influences slurry abrasion rate. The effect of abrasive particle shape on slurry abrasion behaviour of steels and cast irons which are widely used for wear protection has not been studied. The particle shape assumes significant importance due to fracture and fragmentation of the particles during the process of abrasion. In the present work, the particle shape characterization of silica sand abrasive particles was carried by shape factor analysis using image analysis technique. An attempt was made to correlate the different measures of shape factor with particle size of abrasive particles over a wide range. The characterization of slurry abrasion tester was carried out using slurry abrasion tester with silica sand slurry. The effect of sliding distance on slurry abrasion volume of mild steel was studied. The volume loss increased linearly with sliding distance. The scanning electron microscopic observations of worn our surfaces showed micro-ploughing and cutting as mechanism of material removal.
SHAPE FACTOR ANALYSIS OF ABRASIVE PARTICLES USED IN SLURRY ABRASION TESTING
