Particle Erosion Resistance of Bionic Samples Inspired from Skin Structure of Desert Lizard, Laudakin stoliczkana

In order to improve the particle erosion resistance of engineering surfaces, this paper proposed a bionic sample which is inspired from the skin structure of desert lizard, Laudakin stoliczkana. The bionic sample consists of a hard shell (aluminum) and a soft core (silicone rubber) which form a two-layer composite structure. The sand blast tests indicated that the bionic sample has better particle erosion resistance. In steady erosion period, the weight loss per unit time of the bionic sample is about 10% smaller than the contrast sample. The anti-erosion mechanism of the bionic sample was studied by single particle impact test. The results show that, after the impact, the kinetic energy of the particle is reduced by 56.5% on the bionic sample which is higher than that on the contrast sample (31.2%). That means the bionic sample can partly convert the kinetic energy of the particle into the deformation energy of the silicone rubber layer, thus the erosion is reduced.