Role of bonding nature on the temperature dependent erosion behavior of solid materials: A detailed high temperature Raman spectroscopic analysis

Solid particle erosion is an unavoidable problem for gas turbine compressor blades, wind turbines, crude oil pipes, rovers in outer space, and other machine components operated in harsh conditions. Gas turbine components are usually operated in the temperature range of 100–1400 °C. However, the influence of temperature on the solid particle erosion mechanism has not been studied adequately. In this paper, the influence of temperature on the solid particle erosion properties of metals (Ti6Al4V, SS 304, Al-8011, and Ti/TiN multilayers) and non-metals (Al₂O₃, fused quartz, and Si) is studied. The erosion tests were conducted in the temperature range of 30–800 °C. The erosion rate of metallic and ionic solids (viz., Ti6Al4V, SS 304, Al-8011, Al₂O₃, and Ti/TiN multilayers with the thermal expansion coefficient α ≥ 8 μm/°C) initially decreased with increasing temperature and then increased at higher temperatures, whereas for covalently bonded materials such as fused quartz (α = 0.55 μm/°C) and Si (α = 2.6 μm/°C), the erosion rate increased with increasing temperature. As the temperature increases, it causes lattice vibrations and bond flexibility to increase the high thermal expansion coefficient materials due to their non-directional ionic or metallic bonds. It helps these materials to absorb the erodent energy without much damage, whereas the same does not happen in the case of low thermal expansion coefficient materials due to their strong directional covalent bonding. Temperature dependent Raman spectroscopic studies were carried out to understand the lattice vibrations and phase changes during heating.