Development of erosion equations for Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP)

• Published in: Wear 2021-07, Vol.476, p.203657, Article 203657
• Main Authors: Banazadeh-Neishabouri, Nafiseh, Shirazi, Siamack A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon steels; Corrosion resistance; Ductile erosion; Erosion equations; Fiberglass; Fiberglass reinforced plastic; Glass fiber reinforced plastics; Impact angle; Mathematical models; Particle velocity; Stainless steels; Velocity
• ISSN: 0043-1648; 1873-2577
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wear.2021.203657

The application of Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) became widespread in recent years due to its high strength and high corrosive resistance. In this study, erosion equations were developed for FRP using the gas experimental data and two erosion models in the literature. The gas experiments were carried out in direct impingement experimental apparatus for different particle velocities (9, 18, and 32 m/s) and various particle sizes (75, 150, and 300 μm) for six impacts angles ranging from 15 to 90°. Thus, a sufficient database was provided for development of erosion equations. The gas experiments conducted for FRP showed the ductile behavior for this material which is similar to what has been observed for some of the metallic materials such as 316 stainless steel (SS-316) and 1018 carbon steel (CS-1018). Therefore, the Zhang and Oka models which are basically used for metallic materials have been employed for FRP. Then, modifications such as particle velocity factor and particle size empirical factor were added to the models to fit the models better to the experimental data. It was observed that the developed equations can predict the erosion of FRP in reasonable agreements with experimental data. However, at high particle velocity, overprediction was found which is due to the velocity exponent in the erosion equations. Therefore, obtained erosion equations are recommended to be used for relatively low velocity applications. •Erosion gas experimental results for Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) showed ductile behavior similar to metallic materials such as SS-316 and CS-1018.•Zhang and Oka erosion models along with gas experimental data were used to develop erosion equations for FRP.•Reasonable agreements were observed between the prediction of developed models and experimental data, however at high particle velocity, both models overpredicted erosion