Erosive abrasive wear behaviour of stainless steel surface produced by plasma transferred arc hardfacing

Erosive abrasive wear is caused by high speed impact of particles entrained in a fluid system on the surfaces of components such as boilers and furnaces. Erosive abrasive wear in boilers results from the impact of hard particles such as ash or clinker entrained in flue gases and can lead to serious damage. The life of boiler and furnace components encountering erosive abrasive wear in service, which are most commonly fabricated from carbon steels, can be improved by hardfacing with a wear resistant material. The effects of wear parameters such as particle size, flux and velocity on the erosive abrasive wear behaviour of a stainless steel surface produced by the plasma transferred arc hardfacing have been investigated using an experimental design approach. The wear resistance of the stainless steel surface was found to be twice that of the carbon steel substrate. © 2010 Maney Publishing.