A study on the effect of surface orientation on erosion wear of flat specimens moving in a solid–liquid suspension

Wear characteristics of a ductile material, namely, brass have been investigated by orienting the flat specimens at different orientations relative to the velocity direction in a pot tester containing a solid–liquid suspension. The erosion behavior has been studied at various orientation angles, defined as the angle between the tangent to the plane surface and its velocity. Results at different orientation angles show that the wear at any orientation angle increases with increase in velocity and particle size but decreases with increase in solid concentration. It is also seen that the wear at various operating conditions increases with increase in the orientation angle till 30° attaining the maximum value and then decreases up to 90°. It is further observed that the maximum wear is around 3–4.5 times higher than the surface wear measured at 90° orientation angle.