Erosive Wear

Erosive wear can be defined as degradation of material due to impact of particles

travelling with significant velocity.

From: Developments in High Temperature Corrosion and Protection of Materials,

2008

Related terms:

Alloys, Al2O3, Corrosion, Nitriding, Abrasive Wear, Sliding Wear, Abrasion, Abra-
sive, Slurry

View all Topics

Learn more about Erosive Wear

Friction and wear

A.-E. Jiménez, M.-D. Bermúdez, in Tribology for Engineers, 2011

Erosive wear
Erosive wear takes place when hard solid particles impact on a surface (Tilly, 1977;
Hutchings, 1992; Charles et al., 1997) and material loss due to erosion E is measured
as the ratio of the mass of removed material with respect to the mass of erosive
particles. Erosive wear is due to the impact of hard particles on surfaces. The erosion
processes and erosive wear depend on the impact angle, impact velocity and relative
hardness (Divakar et al., 2005) of the materials and incident particles:

[2.22]

where v is the particle velocity, is the impact angle with respect to the material
surface and the coefficient n varies from ductile to brittle materials.

Figure 2.19 illustrates the variation of the erosion rate with the impact angle for
ductile and brittle materials. While ductile materials present the maximum erosion
rate for an impact angle around 20°, and show a good erosion resistance for impacts
normal to the surface, brittle materials show the more severe damage under normal
impacts and have very good resistance at low angles. Ductile materials also present
extensive plastic flow of the surface around the points of impact, while the impact
of hard particles on brittle materials produces the propagation of cracks which lead
to material removal from the surface.

2.19. Variation of erosive wear with impact angle for ductile and brittle materials

> Read full chapter

Laser surface modification of steel

for slurry erosion resistance in power
plants
R.C. Shivamurthy, ... G. Padmanabham, in Laser Surface Modification of Alloys for
Corrosion and Erosion Resistance, 2012

7.5.2 Factors influencing erosion/erosion rate

Erosive wear in hydroturbines, commonly known as sand/silt erosion, is caused
by impacts of solid or liquid particles against the solid surface. These particles are
contained in the flow medium and possess very high kinetic energy that will be
sufficient to damage even metallic target surfaces. Therefore, studies on silt prop-
erties, operating conditions and substrate properties are essential for understanding
the silt erosion mechanisms of hydroturbine components. In the literature, based
on experimental test conditions (Clark, 1992, 2002; and Finnie, 1995) and target
materials (especially ductile materials; Finnie, 1972) one can find several factors
which are influencing directly or indirectly the erosion rate and its mechanisms
on target materials (Truscott, 1972; Stachowiak and Batchelor, 2001; Thapa, 2004).
Hence, general factors/ parameters affecting erosion can be grouped in the following
three distinct groups:

1. Operating conditions: impingement/impact angle (direction of impinge-

ment), particle impact speed, acceleration, flux rate or concentration, erosive
medium nature and flow (density, viscosity and surface activity-lubricity), tem-
perature, particle rotation at impingement, particle-particle interaction.
2. Eroding particles (sand or liquid droplets): size, density, shape/sharpness
(form), hardness, strength (resistance to fragmentation), type (different ero-
dent materials), friability.
3. Substrates (target materials): type (ductile/brittle), properties (melting point,
work hardening, toughness, hardness, fatigue and structure), chemistry, elas-
tic property (residual stress levels), surface morphology (size and shape of the
surface, metallographic structure).

> Read full chapter

Tribological degradation at elevated

temperature
M. Roy, in Developments in High Temperature Corrosion and Protection of Mate-
rials, 2008

6.2.2 Erosive wear test facilities

Erosive wear can be defined as degradation of material due to impact of particles
travelling with significant velocity. A tribosystem suffering from erosive wear can be
characterized as an open system. In such a system the counter body is continuously
replaced. Another feature is that the wear of the counter body is unimportant.

Over the last few decades several test techniques or methodologies have been
developed for studying the mechanism and assessing the extent of erosion. These
tests can broadly be divided into two categories: (i) simulative tests that are designed
to simulate a specific type of erosion, and (ii) tests that are intended to be used for
fundamental studies. The main problem of simulative tests is that it is very expensive
and difficult to conduct fundamental studies for material development or for
understanding the mechanism of erosion. Hence they are not popular for erosive
wear studies at elevated temperature. For such studies, laboratory test techniques
are preferred.

The most common laboratory test involves blasting a stream of airborne particles
against the target, as standardized by G76-83 [11]. In this type of test, a known
quantity of erodent is fed into an airstream, accelerated through a converging nozzle
and directed towards the test specimen. A cleaned and weighed sample is exposed to
a particle-laden airstream for a predetermined time and weighed after interrupting
the test. The ratio of the weight loss suffered by the sample to the weight of erodent
gives the dimensionless erosion rate.

The air jet type elevated temperature erosion rigs can be classified in two broad
groups. The first group comprises erosion rigs, where both the fluid stream carrying
the particles and the eroding target are heated to the same test temperature. These
are called isothermal erosion rigs. In contrast, the second group of erosion rigs,
called non-isothermal rigs, have the facility to heat the target material alone, while
the fluid stream with the particles is not preheated before allowing it to enter the
erosion chamber. In these types of rigs the colder fluid stream cools the target
materials to some extent on impact. Nevertheless, the target material still attains
a steady-state temperature.

The non-isothermal erosion rigs are easy to fabricate but they fail to simulate
the erosion conditions. Hence, such rigs presently are not popular. In contrast,
isothermal type erosion rigs can simulate erosion conditions but are difficult to
fabricate. A schematic diagram of one such erosion rig fabricated by the author at
DMRL is shown in Fig. 6.2a. The unique feature of this rig is its ability to alter the
particle feed rate by over 100 times. Its particle feeding system is a miniaturized
conveyer belt system and the particle feed rate is controlled by controlling the speed
of the motor of the system. A further description of this rig is available elsewhere
[14].
6.2. (a) Jet-type elevated temperature erosion test facilities; (b) schematic represen-
tation of low velocity erosion test facility; (c) schematic diagram of whirling arm
erosion rig.

The test procedure involves heating the compressed air to the required temperature
and then heating and soaking the test sample to that temperature. The heated sam-
ples are then exposed to compressed, heated, fluidized and accelerated airstreams
carrying the particles. The elevated temperature erosion test is a multiple specimen
test procedure. Cleaned, dried and weighed samples are exposed to erodents for
various time intervals (say t1, t2, t3, … where t1 < t2 < t3) corresponding to various
masses of erodents m1, m2, …, mn. A similar number of samples are again exposed
to the airstream without carrying the particles. If M1, M2, …, Mn are the mass losses
suffered by the specimen on exposure to the erodents for time intervals of t1, t2, …,
tn and if M1 , M2 , …, Mn are the mass gains experienced by the samples when
exposed to a plain airstream for time intervals, t1, t2, …, tn then the incremental
erosion rate can be computed as:

6.1

This procedure was repeated until En − 1 is equal to En − 2 and this E is considered to
be the incremental erosion rate.

Determination of the impact velocity of the erodent is the main problem of the jet
type of erosion rig. Three different techniques can be used for measuring impact
velocity. In the photographic method, a high-speed camera is used to photograph
the successive positions of a single particle as a function of time and thus the impact
velocity is computed. The second method, known as the rotating disc method,
was developed by Ruff and Ives [15]. In this method the velocity is determined by
estimating the time of flight of the particles between two discs fixed on a common
shaft rotating at some specified velocity. A modified version of the rotating disc is the
paddle wheel technique [16]. This method gives more reliable and statistically more
accurate results for the velocity. The third method uses a laser doppler velocitimeter
(LDV). This is an accurate, non-interactive and on-line velocity measuring device. The
LDV employs the well-known Doppler effect to measure the velocity of the particles.
When light is scattered from a moving object, the stationary observer will see a
change in frequency of the scattered light proportional to the velocity of the object.
A laser light source is used because it is easily focused and is coherent.

In applications such as pipe bends in slurry transportation systems, impacts are pri-
marily by big particles with very low impact velocity. To simulate such systems, heavy
balls are dropped under gravity to impact the samples. A schematic presentation of
such a system is given in Fig. 6.2b. Bitter [17] introduced such a system for the first
time. The system contains a ball dispenser unit, the velocity measuring system, a ball
counting unit and the sample holder. The ball dispenser and the sample holder can
be taken up and down so as to alter the height over which the eroding particle falls.
Before the steel ball impacts the sample it passes through a multiple photodiode
unit, which measures the velocity of the passing ball and in addition keeps track of
the total number of balls passing through. It should be mentioned here that this
is a non-isothermal variety of test rig. In this system only the test specimen can be
heated from the bottom. The impacting balls are not heated. Such an arrangement
does not alter the temperature of the system, because the time of impact between
the ball and the specimen is only momentary, leaving a very small time for the heat
to transfer from the specimen to the impacting ball.

Whirling arm rigs have been developed to carry out tests at a precisely controlled
velocity over a range of impact conditions. The target specimens are attached to
the tips of the rotor arm and whirled through a certain or a narrow band of erosive
particles. These rigs create a lot of noise and consume considerable power. A whirling
arm erosion rig is schematically presented in Fig. 6.2c. These kinds of rigs simulate
the degradation conditions prevalent in fluidized bed combustors. Tilly and Sage
[18] developed the whirling arm erosion rig initially. One of the advantages of this
type of rig is that the erodent velocity can be controlled precisely, since it is governed
by the speed of rotation of the arms. The rig also permits testing to be carried out
over a wide range of impact velocities. It uses erodent efficiently as all of the
erodent is delivered to the target sample.

> Read full chapter

Routes for achieving multifunctionality

in reinforced polymers and composite
structures
K. Friedrich, in Multifunctionality of Polymer Composites, 2015

1.2.4.3.1 Erosion of CF/PEEK

The average erosive wear rates of the unidirectional CF-reinforced PEEK composites,
using angular steel grit, are shown in Figure 1.27 as a function of the impingement
angle. On the one hand, the erosion rate of the composites varied with increasing
impingement angle. The maximum erosion rate took place at an impingement angle
of around 45–60°, which indicated a mixed ductile/brittle erosive wear behavior of
the PEEK composites studied [36]. As for the PEEK matrix, ductile erosion mode
dominates the erosive wear process as indicated by the results of Arjula et al. [37],
which shifts to semi-ductile erosion mode when fibers (CFs, GFs, etc.) are incorpo-
rated into the PEEK matrix [25,38]. Meanwhile, a semi-ductile erosion mode has also
been found for other polymer-based composites [39–41]. On the other hand, the CF
orientation exerted some influence on the erosive wear resistance of the composites,
among which better erosion resistance was registered when the composites were
eroded with the CFs in parallel orientation [33]. Since the effect of fiber orientation
was, however, negligible in relation to the effect of impingement angle, only the
average values of the three major fiber orientations, i.e., perpendicular (Pe), parallel
(Pa), and 45° tilted, were plotted in this chapter.
Figure 1.27. Average erosion rate of CF/PEEK as a function of impingement angle.
Erodent: angular steel grit; velocity: 25.3 m/s; mass flow rate: 746.7 g/min; erosion
time: 3 min [35].

A similar trend in erosion rate of CF/PEEK as a function of impingement angle was

also found for the sand grits. But the absolute values of the erosion rates differ
remarkably due to the different velocities and mass flow rates used. A better way of
comparing the data will therefore be shown later in this chapter.

An analysis of the wear mechanisms under sand erosion yields, in principle, similar
features on the eroded surfaces as seen for the steel grits in function of fiber
orientation and impingement angle. Numerous broken fiber fragments as well as
some drawn remains of the ductile matrix are visible [35].

> Read full chapter

Wear by hard particles

Ian Hutchings, Philip Shipway, in Tribology (Second Edition), 2017

6.2.2 Particle shape

Most particles responsible for abrasive or erosive wear are roughly equiaxed, but
there can be considerable variation in their angularity depending on their origins.
Wear rates depend strongly on the shapes of the particles, with angular particles
causing greater wear than rounded particles. The reasons for this are discussed
below, in Sections 6.3 and 6.4.

Angularity is not straightforward to define. Figure 6.5 shows two shapes of quartz
particle: rounded and angular. Differences in particle shape of this magnitude can
result in differences in wear rate by a factor of 10 or more, yet the angularity of
abrasive particles is seldom measured quantitatively. This is largely because of the
difficulty of identifying and quantifying the features of a complex three-dimen-
sional shape that are responsible for its abrasivity.

Fig. 6.5. SEM micrographs of silica particles: (a) rounded and (b) angular

(Courtesy of A. J. Sparks. Scale bars 100 μm)

One of the simplest descriptions of shape is based on measurements of the perime-

ter and area of a two-dimensional projection of the particle, usually generated by
optical microscopy. The roundness factor or circularity F can then be defined as the
ratio between the actual area A of the projection, and the area of a circle with the
same perimeter P as the projection. In terms of these quantities,

(6.1)

If F = 1 the projection is a circle; the more the outline of the particle departs from
circular, the smaller the value of F. By averaging the values of F derived from the
two-dimensional outlines of many particles, oriented randomly, an indication can
be gained of the departure from sphericity of three-dimensional particles.

Some success has been achieved in correlating abrasive wear rates with values of the
roundness factor F, although it provides only a crude measure of the deviation of the
particle from a perfect sphere. Many other, more sensitive measures of angularity
have been proposed, but the simple circularity F has the advantage that it is widely
used in other contexts and is readily computed by standard image-analysis software.

> Read full chapter

Thermal sprayed WC-Co coatings for

tribological application
R.M. Mohanty, M. Roy, in Materials and Surface Engineering, 2012

5.4.2 Erosive wear

Thermal sprayed coatings are also extensively used for protection against erosive
wear. WC-Co has potential for use in erosion resistant coatings. Levy and Wang
(1998) noted brittle erosion response of plasma sprayed WC-Co coating. Barbezat
et al. (1993) observed that CDS-sprayed WC-Co coating exhibits improved erosion
resistance. Impact angle independent erosion rates at low impact velocity and impact
angle dependent erosion rates at high impact velocity for WC-Co coatings are noted
by Wood et al. (1997). As reported by Karimi et al. (1993), the addition of Cr to
Co results in improvement of adhesion of WC particles, with the matrix resulting
in improved erosion resistance. According to Kim et al. (1994), the erosion rate
of plasma-sprayed WC-Co coating decreases with increase of cohesive strength.
Roy et al. (1993) demonstrated that the erosion resistance of detonation-sprayed
WC-Co coating is better than plasma-sprayed and HVOF-sprayed coatings at nor-
mal impact, and comparable at oblique impact. The investigation by Kulu et al.
(2005) presented in Fig. 5.15 indicates that WC-Co-Cr coating has significantly
lower erosion rate than self-fluxing NI-Cr-Si-B coating. Unlike sliding wear, there is
less work on solid particle erosion of nanocomposite coatings. Only work by Dent
et al. (2002) indicates that erosion resistance of nanocomposite coating decreases
compared to conventional coatings. However, in nanostructure coatings, erosion
resistance increases with the decrease in Co binder phase.
Figure 5.15. Bar diagram showing erosion rate of various thermal sprayed coatings
(Kulu et al., 2005)

> Read full chapter

Transparent wear-resistant multifunc-

tional polymeric nanocoatings
Hui Zhang, ... Zhong Zhang, in Multifunctionality of Polymer Composites, 2015

18.3.5 Erosive Wear Resistance of Nanocomposite Coatings

Wear is known as an extremely complicated process; a material showing good fret-
ting wear resistance does not necessarily mean it has good erosive wear resistance
also. The erosive wear behaviors of the colloidal-nanosilica-filled coating samples
are also investigated in this work. Here, two steel erodent particles having different
shapes were used: sharp-edged ball with a diameter of 180–400 μm (Figure 18.8(a))
and round ball with a diameter of 100–200 μm (Figure 18.8(b)). The details of the
erosive test have been reported in our previous work [21].
Figure 18.8. SEM micrographs of (a) sharp-edged erodent and (b) round erodent.

The effect of nanosilica content on the mass loss of the prepared coatings is shown
in Figure 18.9. For the sharp-edged erodent (Figure 18.9(a)), the erosion resistance
of coatings is improved remarkably with the increase of nanosilica content. For
example, at the erosion time of 5 s, the mass loss is reduced by approximately 58%
as 40 wt% colloidal nanosilica particles were incorporated into the neat coating. For
the round erodent, however, the tendency is different (Figure 18.9(b)). The erosive
wear resistance of coatings seems to be not very sensitive to the nanosilica content.
At relatively short erosion time (10 and 30 s), the mass loss of coatings appears to
remain constant as the content of nanosilica increases; while at long erosion time (45
and 60 s), the mass loss of coatings is found to rise slightly with nanosilica content
increase.

Figure 18.9. Mass loss as a function of colloidal nanosilica particle content under
the impingement angle of 90°: (a) using sharp-edged erodent and (b) using round
erodent.

The SEM worn surfaces of the coatings reveal the wear mechanism. When using
the sharp-edged erodent (Figure 18.10), for the neat coating, two major features are
found: (i) A long microcrack across the worn surface (indicated by the arrow in Figure
18.10(a)), a close-up of the microcrack is shown in Figure 18.10(b). (ii) Numerous
debris are generated on the worn surface. Comparatively, for the 40 wt% colloidal
nanosilica-filled coating, no long cracks could be observed and the debris size is rel-
atively smaller (Figure 18.10(c)). Besides, no obvious debonding of nanoparticles can
be found from the higher resolution SEM micrograph though numerous nanosilica
particles can be clearly observed (Figure 18.10(d)). This reflects the good adhesion
between nanoparticles and polymer resin.

Figure 18.10. SEM micrographs of the worn surfaces of coating samples when using
sharp-edged erodent: (a), (b) neat coating, and (c), (d) with 40 wt% colloidal nanosilica
particles (t=5 s, v=17 m/s, impingement angle=90°).

When using the round erodent, the SEM micrographs of worn surfaces of the coat-
ings (Figure 18.11) are somewhat different from those when using the sharp-edged
erodent. For neat coating, instead of long microcracks, numerous short cracks grow-
ing to various directions (indicated by the arrows) can be recognized on the worn
surfaces (Figure 18.11(a) and (b)). Moreover, the higher resolution SEM micrograph
of the nanocoating (Figure 18.11(c)) reveals flake-like debris, which is formed after
the repeated impact by the round erodents.
Figure 18.11. SEM micrographs of the worn surfaces of coating samples when using
round erodent: (a) neat coating, and (b), (c) with 40 wt% colloidal nanosilica particles
(t=45 s, v=17 m/s, impingement angle=90°).

The different worn surfaces shown in Figures 18.10 and 18.11 as well as the different
erosion responses of the coating samples (Figure 18.9) should be ascribed to the
different morphologies of the erodent particles. The angular erodents have very
sharp edges that may cause microcutting and immediate cracking on the coating
surfaces that they impact on; whereas the round erodents are spherical in shape
and they may cause relatively mild impact. It is assumed that the round erodents
may cause localized deformation rather than the microcutting on the coating sur-
faces, as the angular erodents do; after repeated impact from the round erodent,
the surface fatigue occurs, which is characteristic of microcrackings propagating
to various directions. As a summary, the microcutting and immediate cracking
would be responsible for the erosive wear process when using the angular erodent
whereas the microdeformation and the subsequent surface fatigue would be the
dominant wear mechanisms when using the round erodent. Figure 18.12 illustrates
the possible erosive wear processes of the coating samples subjected to impact of
the sharp-edged or round erodents.
Figure 18.12. Schematic illustration of the erosive wear mechanisms: (a) using
sharp-edged erodent and (b) using round erodent.

> Read full chapter

Composite Dental Materials: Wear

N. Lawson, in Reference Module in Materials Science and Materials Engineering,
2016

Abstract
Dental composite resins have increased in prevalence over the past 10 years. As the
materials replace missing tooth structure, it is critical that they have comparable
wear properties as natural enamel. Dental composites wear during mastication
which produces abrasive, erosive, fatigue, and erosive wear mechanisms. The wear
of a dental composite is dependent upon the size, concentration, bonding, and
dispersion of its filler particles. Additionally, the strength of the resin matrix may
affect wear. There are several devices used to approximate wear in vitro and differ-
ent methods for measuring in vitro and in vivo wear. Several clinical studies have
measured annual wear rates for composites. New materials are being developed in
dentistry that should be optimized for wear performance.

> Read full chapter

ZeroFlow gas nitriding of steels
L. Maldzinski, J. Tacikowski, in Thermochemical Surface Engineering of Steels, 2015

12.8.2 Nitriding of plates for casting glass bulbs for lamps

(medium-time process)
Plates for casting glass bulbs are made from N135M steel (41CrAlMo7-10). In the
central part of the plate there is a hole (Figure 12.12), through which the melt
is introduced. The internal surface of the hole, and especially its upper edge is
subjected to erosive wear. An operational durability of 300 h is required. The nitrided
case should be 0.20–0.25 mm thick, and should not have a compound layer. It
requires double-stage nitriding (490 ºC, 2 h and 550 ºC, 24 h). The photograph of
transverse cross sections of the obtained nitride case is shown in Figure 12.13 (see
also Plate IX between pages 392 and 393). The consumption of NH3 in the ZeroFlow
method was 5.0 m3. Using a conventional atmosphere of 20% NH3 + 80% NH3diss.,
the consumption of NH3 would be ~ 15.5 m3. Therefore the consumption of NH3
in the described process is about three times lower than the consumption using the
Floe process. In the case of crankshafts this ratio was 1:5, and the smaller difference
from the slightly shorter nitriding time.

Figure 12.12. Plates for casting glass cans to light bulbs [21].

Courtesy of Heat Treating Progress.

 Figure 12.13. Micrographs of the nitrided layer on N135M steel nitrided using
ZeroFlow process at: stage I – 490°C, rN = 22 atm–1/2, 2 h; stage II – 550°C, rN =-
 0.5 atm–1/2, 12 h; stage III – rN = 0.2 atm–1/2, 12 h [21].

Courtesy of Heat Treating Progress.

In Figure 12.14 consumption of ammonia and emission of after-process gases to

the environment in the ZeroFlow process and the Floe process are shown.

Figure 12.14. Comparison of NH3 consumption during nitriding of plates for cast-

ing glass bulbs for lamp in ZeroFlow and Floe processes.

> Read full chapter

Design and selection of materials for
tribological applications
Ian Hutchings, Philip Shipway, in Tribology (Second Edition), 2017

8.6.4 Wear by hard particles

We saw in Section 6.2.1 that the rate of wear of a material by abrasion or erosion
falls sharply if its hardness can be made greater than that of the abrasive particles
themselves. Desirable as this condition may be, it is not readily achieved with steel
components since very few alloys are as hard as naturally occurring abrasive particles.
Silica, for example, typically has a hardness of some 800 HV, a value attained only by
martensitic steels, untempered, of high carbon content (see Fig. 7.7). Although the
results discussed in Sections 6.3.3 and 6.4.3 can be used to select engineering alloys
with optimum resistance to abrasive and erosive wear respectively, the designer
seeking the lowest wear rates will be forced to use harder materials, either in bulk
form or as coatings. Candidate bulk materials include white cast irons (usually
containing chromium, with a high volume fraction of carbides in a martensitic
matrix), cemented carbides (e.g., tungsten carbide in a cobalt or nickel binder) and
ceramics (e.g., alumina, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, boron carbide or sintered
polycrystalline diamond). As discussed in Sections 6.3.3 and 6.4.3, these materials
can offer excellent resistance to wear by hard particles and in many cases are available
as prefabricated components (e.g., as tubes, tiles, slurry pump liners, grit blaster
nozzles etc.) that can readily be incorporated into new or existing designs.

For some applications, however, bulk wear resistant materials may not be suitable,
perhaps for reasons of cost, overall weight, difficulty of fabrication or mechanical
properties. Surface engineering methods can then be used to apply a coating of a
wear-resistant material to a substrate with lower wear resistance but with the desired
bulk properties. As in the case of sliding wear (see Section 8.6.2), the thickness of
the modified surface layer is a most important consideration. Both the expected
rate of wear and the depth to which significant stresses are induced by particle
contact must be taken into account. Weld hardfacing processes (see Fig. 8.4 and
Section 7.4.2) must be used to produce the thickest coatings: metallic matrices
(typically iron- or cobalt-based) with a high content of chromium carbide, tungsten
carbide or other hard carbides can be deposited by welding methods to provide
resistance to high stress abrasion by large particles, in applications such as rock
drills, excavator teeth and ore-crushing machinery. Rather thinner coatings of these
materials can be produced by thermal spray processes, some of which can also
deposit ceramic materials such as alumina, chromia, zirconia or titania. Boronizing
of steels also leads to a surface layer with sufficient hardness to resist some types of
 abrasive wear, but the benefits of the other methods of surface modification of steels
discussed in Section 7.3 are generally not great because of the limited increase in
hardness which can be achieved. The very thin but hard coatings formed by CVD and
PVD processes provide useful abrasive wear resistance only if the abrasive particles
are sufficiently small. For example, PVD titanium nitride coatings can increase the
life of moulds and extrusion dies used for polymer processing, by reducing the rate
of abrasive wear due to fine filler particles in the polymer melt.

In certain cases, polymers can provide viable alternatives to very hard materials.
For example, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) can be used
to line hoppers and chutes carrying powdered materials, and offers low sliding
friction together with adequate abrasion resistance. Polyurethanes are also used
to line powder-handling equipment, and in aqueous slurry pipelines and pumps
provide dual protection against both corrosion and erosive wear. Other elastomers,
especially natural rubber, can also show good resistance to erosive wear by airborne
particles, especially for rounded particles at high impact angles and low velocities
(see Section 6.4.3).

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