Models of gas-solid particle erosion of metals and alloys

The gas-solid particle erosion mechanisms of metals and alloys are considered in light of the results of a recent study of erosion. The relevance of a recent model of erosion is questioned, and the likelihood of successful analytical modelling of erosion is considered. It has been shown that analytical modelling of erosion from a mechanistic viewpoint is difficult because there is no single physical erosion mechanism; a spectrum of physically different erosion mechanisms are possible. A simple thermodynamic model of erosion has been used to show that thermodynamic efficiencies of these mechanisms vary by as much as a factor of twenty, and all mechanisms can contribute significantly to the erosion rate depending on the specific conditions. Therefore any analytical model that assumes a single mechanism will not be able to explain the spectrum of behaviour observed, and will invariably be reduced to empirical form