Elastomers and plastics for resisting erosion attack of abrasive/erosive slurries.

Elastomers and plastics are widely used as the materials for handling abrasive/erosive slurries because of their wear resistance, toughness, corrosion resistance and light weight. In this study, slurry jet erosion, Coriolis slurry scouring erosion and large particle slurry erosion are used to characterize the erosion resistance of selected elastomers and plastics, including two natural rubbers, a neoprene rubber, a polyurethane and three types of polyethylene, at different test conditions. The wear rates and wear modes of the tested materials are presented and the relationships between the erosion resistance of these materials and their mechanical properties are discussed. Suitable applications of these materials in slurry transport are also recommended. • Elastomers have excellent erosion resistance because of their excellent resilience to absorb deformation elastically. • Plastics have good erosion resistance because of their moderate resilience to absorb deformation elastically. • Elastomers and plastics are suitable for resisting erosion attacks by small and rounded or semi-rounded particles. • Elastomers and plastics have displayed increased erosion resistance at elevated temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]