Finite element modeling of solid particle erosion in AISI 4140 steel and nickel–tungsten carbide composite material produced by the laser-based powder deposition process

A FE dynamic model was developed to study the slurry erosion in Ni–WC composite material that considers both Ni and WC separately. The model was verified by the measured erosion rate and the eroded surface topography. The verified model was used to study the effect of material composition and different erodent particle characteristics such as impingement angle, velocity and the shape on the erosion rate, stress distribution and internal energy of the target material. The results show that the volume fraction of the Ni-matrix determines the energy absorption within the target material and the WC is responsible for minimizing the erodent attack. It was shown that a soft interlayer can provide more resistant to erosion in a multilayered Ni–WC deposit.