A computer simulation of the time dependence of the erosion of Pyrex glass by glass beads

Abstract

With the aid of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations of the surface of Pyrex glass, eroded by spherical glass beads, a recursive algorithm has been formulated which predicts the weight-loss from the specimen as a function of time. This method takes into account three mechanisms of material removal: material chipped off when cone cracks form on the surface; materials removed due to interaction of cone cracks on the flat surface; and materials removed due to chipping of exposed cone frustrums and the underlying rough surface. Multi-particle erosion tests were performed on the Pyrex glass target material employing spherical glass beads as impacting particles. Four different particle velocities and average particle sizes were employed as the varaibles in the experiments. An analysis of the experimental results in conjunction with the mathematical model showed a very good agreement between experimental results and theoretical prediction.