Insights to improve the tribo-performance of materials used under slurry erosion applications: A review

Slurry erosion usually results in the form of damage to the materials of different components having underwater working domain. Numerous industries have suffered due to this kind of wear resulting in frequent breakdowns demanding repeated financial assistance and poor productivity. Properties and tribo-performance of materials related to distinct slurry applications play a significant role in arresting the slurry erosion wear. Slurry erosion depends on different parameters such as impact velocity, impingement angle, shape and size of erodent, slurry concentration and so on. These parameters differ from one application to another and accordingly, specific materials are selected knowing the extent and severity of slurry erosion wear. In the last decade, many authors studied parametrically the tribo-slurry erosion performance of materials, few of them correlated their investigations to the actual in situ conditions of applications. Various authors have analyzed the effect of operating parameters on the mechanism of erosion and conducted the comparative studies of different materials. Many of the investigators attempted to improve the properties and tribo-slurry erosion performance of materials through surface modification techniques; coating, reinforcement, heat treatment, thermo-mechanical process etc. This review is an effort to covers all such kind of explorations.