A note on threshold velocity criteria for modelling the solid particle erosion of WC/Co MMCs

The threshold velocity for erosion of a ductile material is considered as the velocity required for initiation of plastic deformation in the substrate. For a brittle material, it defines the velocity required to nucleate a median crack in the elastic/plastic interface beneath the indentation. By invoking models for the solid particle erosion of ductile and brittle materials from the literature, together with a set of criteria based on threshold velocity calculations for erosion of the individual components, various predictions of erosion behaviour of WC/Co MMCs have been made. Qualitative agreement was found between the model predictions and various trends of the solid particle erosion behaviour of WC/Co cermets in the literature. The implications of the findings in addressing some of the puzzling trends of the solid particle erosion of MMCs in the literature, and how such insights may result in a reconsideration of some "classical" solid particle erosion relationships, are addressed in this paper