Experimental study of the erosion behavior of 304 stainless steel under solid-liquid jet flow impinging at different impact angles

A cheap, clean, and renewable source of energy is hydropower. Quick starting, stopping, and load changes are intrinsic capabilities of hydropower plants, providing operational flexibility and assisting in enhancing the reliability of the power system. On the other hand, the most effective option for addressing peak demand is hydroelectric plants. In addition to being inflation-free, the generation cost also gets cheaper with time. However, hydropower plants in the world are struggling with severe problems, including failure damage caused by silt erosion. Different factors, including silt size, hardness, concentration, quantity, form, velocity, impact angle, and the base material property, affect the severity of the erosion phenomenon. To evaluate the slurry erosion behavior of AISI 304 stainless steel samples, a simple and affordable method was developed in which the abrasive particles strike the specimen surface through the water flow. Investigating the erosive wear behavior of the surface of AISI 304 stainless steel samples with different impinging angles of sediment particles (30, 60, and 90°) is the purpose of the current research. To this end, a simple and inexpensive laboratory device was designed and manufactured to perform the slurry jet erosive test. This experiment was carried out in sand slurry (10 wt.% and 400 micrometer sand particle size) for three different test duration at each angle. Eventually, the influence of the impingement angle on the erosion rate of 304 stainless steel was discussed. The results showed that the erosion rate peaked at a 30° impingement angle. In addition, the wear rate is affected by the increase in testing time. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.