WEAR

ELSEVIER Wear186-187(1995)533-541

Abrasion-corrosion studies of passive stainless steels in acidic media:

combination of acoustic emission and electrochemical techniques
R. Oltra a, B. Chapey a, L. Renaud b
aURACNRS 23 Re!activitedes Solides, BP 138, 21004 Dijon, France
b Creusot-Loire Industrie, BP 56, 712W L.e Creusot, France

Abstract

This study deals with the measurement and the subsequent signal analysis of acoustic emission and current noise recorded during continuous
abrasion of a metallic passive target in a corrosive environment. According to a phenomenological model, the localized corrosion results from
the repetitive damage from the particles impacts.
Time analysis of electrochemical current and acoustic emission have been performed in order to quantify the balance between the mechanical
wear and the corrosive damage of the abraded metallic target. It will be shown that the mean value of the root mean square acoustic signal,
A( I), has been found to be related to the mechanical wear of the target and allows measurement in real-time of the actual mechanical
perturbation in terms of mass of the ablated material by wear. It allows definition of a ratio of the contribution of the corrosive damage to the
total damage.
Nevertheless the analysis of the acoustic and electrochemical responses for individual impacts remains difficult to relate to the quantitative
measurements performed in cases of cumulative events.

Keywords: Abrasionxorrosion; Stainless steels; Acoustic emission; Sulfuric acid

1. Introduction formation of a corrosion product layer). Nevertheless, exper-

Material failures caused by erosion+orrosion or abrasion-
corrosion processes in aqueous two-phase flows, are not
totally understood, despite much experimental and modelling
research to evaluate mainly the interactions between the
mechanical and the corrosive damages [ 11.
Usually, the material behaviour is defined by carrying out
experimental investigations yielding the integral damage
(mechanical and electrochemical) as a function of the nature
of the fluid. These tests are conducted without taking into
account basic parameters which characterise the mechanical
deformation or the kinetics of the electrochemical reactions
[21.
Recently, with the development of computer programs,
simulation of the physical and chemical processes has
allowed prediction of the chemical interaction of a flowing
fluid with or without solid particles [ 31. These simulations
deduced from numerical flow predictions were extended by
erosion and corrosion models, taking into account corrosion
processes controlled by mass-transfer (general corrosion and
imental parameters have to be defined from advanced studies
before introduction in simulation codes.
Development of such models for investigating the behav-
iour of passive materials (stainless steels) in similar two-
phase flows will be dependent on a specific experimental
support. Abrasion-corrosion of passive materials is charac-
terized by the mechanical perturbation of the passive film,
i.e. localized impacts of small-sized abrading particles in
suspension in a flowing corrosive fluid, which induce the
passive film breakdowns leading to transient corrosion phe-
nomena.
Electrochemical investigation of locally depassivated
metal by abrading particles have been tentatively performed
in previous work and electrochemical models have been
developed for analysing the corrosion current [ 41.
To complete such studies, the overall damage induced by
abrasion+orrosion, has to be defined; this damage is the
result of two contributions:
- the mechanical wear (ablation of metal) ;
- the mass-loss due to the transient corrosion depending on
the balance of bare metal dissolution and regrowth of the
protective film.

0043-1648/95/$09.50 0 1995 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved

SSDIOO43-1648(95)07170-9
534 R. Oltra et al. /Wear 186187 (1995) 533-541

Regarding the lack of available data for simulation models, The basics of acoustic and electrochemical measurements
the main problem is how to reach experimentally these quan- will be discussed on the basis of individual impact experi-
titative values to establish the synergistic effect as a function ments.
of metallurgical and chemical (pH, temperature of the cor-
rosive media) parameters. For example, individual measure-
ment of the two contributions for an individual impact cannot 2. Experimental
be achieved: for a stainless steel target in a 1 M H,SO&O C
corrosive solution, the order a magnitude of the damages 2.1. Apparatus
resulting from an impact of a SIC particle (size 500 pm) with
an average velocity of 9 m s - is about: impact area, 50 p,m*; The jet slurry apparatus used in this study is based on an
ablated material, 0.2 ng; corroded material, 50 pg. impinging jet device using a peristaltic pump. The flow
These values cannot be measured for an individual impact, velocity of the corrosion electrolyte (9 m s- ) was stabilized
but can only be obtained by averaging the damages (mechan- by a pressure vessel in the loop.The impinging jet was
ical and corrosive) for continuous abrading conditions with designed so that the angle of the particle impact of the abrad-
a high rate of abrasion. In the above-mentioned example the ing particle (SIC, mean size 500 p.m) was 90 (Fig. 1) .
The surface of the target which is abraded is about 0.5 cm*.
rate of abrasion was estimated to be around 3000 impacts per
After continuous abrasion a typical crater can be measured
second.
by laser profilometty which exhibits circular rings of various
The knowledge of the abrading regime is not sufficient to
amplitudes in depth because the mechanical wear is con-
analyze the balance between mechanical and corrosive dam-
trolled by the hydrodynamics of the impinging jet.
ages. On the other hand, this parameter is difficult to follow
during an abrasion test. For example, parameters such as the
2.2. Materials andjuids
concentration of the abrading particles were tentatively used
to establish the same kind of relation without success, because
The erosion experiments were performed on various stain-
numerous factors (kinetic energy, angle of impact...) con-
less steels, but in this paper only the behaviour of 316L SS,
tribute to the mechanical damage.
will be described. All the abrasion experiments in corrosive
Another experimental approach has been chosen allowing
environment were conducted in a H,SO, 1 M solution at
the combination of electrochemical and mechanical transient
25 C and the mechanical wear in the absence of corrosion
measurements. A study has been conducted to investigate the
was calibrated in Na2S04 (pH = 7) at 25 C under cathodic
ability of acoustic emission ( AE) techniques to measure the
polarisation.
frequency of the mechanical impacts of slurries flowing in
aqueous solution, their distribution in energy and the total
2.3. Development of the acoustic emission device
mechanical wear. AE signals (burst emissions) due to each
impact of the abrading particle were detected with a broad-
The use of acoustic sensors is not largely widespread for
bandwidth piezoelectric transducer positioned on the oppo-
abrasion experiments with a flowing slurry suspension. Some
site face of the target. The measurement of the acoustic energy attempts have been proposed to characterize the abrasive wear
of the burst signals gives a continuous generation of voltage in lubricated sliding contacts [ 51.
transients at a high rate ( 1000-5000 impacts s-r). AE was also previously proposed as a method of monitor-
According to a phenomenological model, the localized ing hard particle impacts on metallic surfaces by analysing
corrosion results from the repetitive damages of the particle
impacts. The fluctuations of the acoustic signal and of the
electrochemical signal can both be modelled by a shot-noise-
like process. This means that the mean value of the cumula- T
tive signals is proportional to the rate of impacts and to the AE sensor 6
average size of the events (mechanical or electrochemi-
Cal).
The main purpose of this work was to check the combi-
Ii :-)u\

nation of acoustic and electrochemical sensors to define the electrochemica

more suitable signal treatment allowing characterization and
also to quantify the balance between the mechanical wear and
the corrosive damage of the abraded metallic target. Firstly,
the development of the mechanical sensor will be presented
and secondly the various expressions of the synergy between
Fig. 1. Schematic sketch of the abrasion-corrosion loop based on a jet slurry
mechanical and corrosive damages of 316L stainless steel apparatus. The diameter of the target in contact with the electrolyte is 43 mm
(SS) in acidic media will be illustrated. and the diameter of the impinging area is 8 mm.
 R. Oh et al. /Wear 186187 (1995) 533-541 535

AE signals (burst emissions) with a broad bandwidth pie-
zoelectric transducer positioned on the opposite face of the
target. Quantitative analysis of the AE signals allowed the
particle size to be estimated [ 61.
Mechanical stresses, induced by the impact of a particle in
suspension in the flowing fluid, generate an ultrasonic wave.
Then for each particle impact, the AE signal consists of a
single burst emission. During erosion experiments, the sum-
mation of the counts, i.e. the number of times the AE
1601 . I
mV
80-
O-
signal crosses a preset trigger level voltage, can be correlated
to the erosion rate [ 61. As erosion can also be considered as
a pseudo-continuous phenomenon, the mean value of the time
variation of the energy of the acoustic signal might be
expected to provide information about the total mechanical
erosion.
A Europhysical Acoustic (bandwidth 350-1200 kHz)
sensor was coupled with PTFE grease to the stainless steel
target (Fig. 1) . The output signal which could be amplified
if necessary, was transformed by a root mean square (RMS)
integrator device whose output was connected to a Digital
Audio Tape (DAT) recorder (sampling rate 48 kHz). On
the other hand, it can be also transmitted directly to a digital
oscilloscope to trigger the electrochemical transient response.
Later, the DAT-recorded acoustic signal (maximum 2 h
duration), was processed by a 486 PC to calculate the mean
value of the acoustic energy and the number of events.

-8O- 2.4. Electrochemical measurements

I I t I
-160 In the abrading cell,the target was polarized in the passive
1 2 3 timems
range with a potentiostat. The anodic current fluctuations
induced by the passive film breakdowns were simultaneously
recorded on the second channel of the DAT and later they
30 _ were processed with the digital oscilloscope.
ClA Fig. 2 shows the acoustic signal (high frequency) due to
20 - consecutive particle impacts and the corresponding electro-
chemical response of the material; it clearly illustrates the
correlation between the mechanical and the corrosive dam-
10 -
ages in the case of individual impacts.

0 -
1 I I t I 3. Experimental results
1 2 3 timems
Fig. 2. Burst acoustic emission (a) and electrochemical transients (b) for 3.1. Acoustic signal
two consecutive impacts. Abrading conditions: 316L SS, 1 M H,SO,,
E= +0.2 V/SSE, Sic 500 pm.
The frequency range used to measure each acoustic burst,
VAE(t), was around 1 MHz (Fig. 3). Then during a contin-
mV
uous abrasion (rate of impacts in the kHz range) the initial
80 AE signal emitted by the sensor could not be recorded con-
tinuously.
Calculating the RMS value, A(t), of the initial AE signal,
V,,(t) , is a conventional technical solution for the continu-
40
ous recording of the signal whose frequency range is now
10 KHz. Compared with previous applications of AE tech-
niques [ 51, the time constant 7 of the RMS integrator device
0 was reduced to 100 l.~s.
I
A(t) = : V&Ud(U) (1)
0 1-7

For a single impact, we can define the acoustic energy [ 71:

fs
0 40 80 120 time ps
Fig. 3. Typical acoustic sensor response: burst and RMS acoustic signals for (2)
one impact.
536 R. Oltra et al. /Wear 186-187(1995) 533-541

300 I found between the mechanical wear and the particle concen-
tration, especially for the large particle concentrations. This
250 -
can be related to the hydrodynamic regimes in the cell (decan-
200 - tation of particles, screening effect due to collision between
particles in the nozzle, . . .) .
150 - This suggests that the acoustic emission seems to be very
.
100 - . promising in measuring erosion rates in slurries, because it
.
. .. takes into account the actual impacts on the target.
50 - .
%
??
I=
3.3. Electrochemical measurements
0
0 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50
Erosion experiments in a corrosive environment were car-
ried out on the 316L SS target instrumented with the AE
Fig. 4. Amplitude of the RMS signal versus kinetic energy. Abrading con- sensor. During the test, the sample was under potentiostatic
ditions: glass beads of various diameters, 316L SS, Na2S04 pH= 7, control in the passive range ( +0.2 V/SSE) in 1 M H,SO+
E= - 1.2 VISSE. Various electrochemical measurements can be performed to
characterize and to quantify the corrosive damage during a
where t, is the duration of the acoustic burst. As the integrated
continuous abrasion.
circuit is operated with a time constant r slightly higher than
In free corroding conditions, as shown in Fig. 6, the cor-
t,, the RMS response at time T, A( T) , to a single impact was
rosion potential drops from the passive range to the active
proportional to the root mean square of the acoustic energy:
range, and the polarization-resistance measurement (RJ can
be recorded. By this approach the corrosion rate cannot be
(3) calculated, but a ranking of the materials is possible since in

100
In practice, the amplitude of the RMS acoustic signal can : x various particle concentrations
be reached easier than A( 7). To check that this amplitude is :~WdolJsfkWEltS
also proportional to the square root of the mechanical impact
energy, particles leading to well-controlled damages were ,
used. For indentation impacts due to glass beads, i.e. impacts
10 :
with only plastic deformation and without any scraping of /
, , I
the surface, the amplitude of the RMS acoustic signal was ,
found to be proportional to the square root of the kinetic , I ,
, ,
energy of the particle (Fig. 4). , ,
1 1 I
3.2. Relation between RMS acoustic signal and mechanical 10 100 1000
wear (a) A. E- F=-mw

Erosion tests in a non-corrosive electrolyte ( 1 h duration) 100 ,

were conducted in the following conditions: abrading parti-
E 80
cles, Sic 500 p,m; electrolyte, Na2S04 pH = 7 (E = - 1.2 V/
SSE).
'
z! 60
The total mechanical wear was defined at the end of the
erosion experiment by measuring the mass loss. To correlate i
.o 40
the mechanical wear to the RMS acoustic signal, the mean :
value <A(t) > was plotted as function of the mass loss rate
p 20
as shown in Fig. 5 (a).
As shown by other authors for abrasive wear [ 51, the mean 0
value of the RMS acoustic signal (for 1 h of abrasion) was
proportional to the mass loss measured after the erosion test
carried out with various concentrations (g 1- ) of abrading (b)
particles (Fig. 5 (a) ) . Fig. 5. (a) Mean value of the RMS acoustic signal <A(t) > as function of
the mechanical wearrate (mg h-l). Abrading conditions: 316L SS, Na,SO,
The two-phase flow could also be characterized by the
pH= 7, E= - 1.2 V/SSE, Sic 500 pm. Concentration of particles from
particle concentration (g l- ) itself. But, as shown in Fig.
0 g I- to 40 g 1-l. (b) Mechanical wear rate (mg hh) as function of the
5 (b) , in the case of the abrasion-corrosion loop used in all particle concentration (g 1-l). Abrading conditions: 316L SS, Na,SO,
the presented experiments (Fig. 1) , no linear relation can be pH=7, E= - 1.2 V/SSE, Sic 500 urn,
 R. Okra et al. /Wear
0R
P
I I
I I I I I I I I
200 400 600 600
time (set)
Fig. 6. Evolution of the corrosion potential from the passive range towards
the active range during continuous abrasion. Rp measurements can be per-
formed to estimate the corrosion rate. Abrading conditions: 316L SS, 1 M
H,S04, Sic 500 pm.
current (mAIcr2)
f
c e---l
i(t)
time (mn)
Fig. 7. Evolution of the corrosion current (anodic current) during continuous
abrasion. The faradaic charge can be estimated by integration. Abrading
conditions: 316L SS, 1 M H,SO,, E= +0.2 V/SSE, Sic 500 km.
the first approximation polarization resistance gives the over-
all resistance of the passive film under erosion.
On the other hand, with imposed potential conditions (in
the passive range), the integration of the cumulative current
transients due to all the impacts gives the total faradaic charge
involved during the abrasion test. Assuming this charge to be
only related to the dissolution process of the bare metal, i.e.
neglecting the part of the charge devoted to the regrowth of
the passive layer, the application of Faradays law allows
calculation of the rate of corrosion under abrasion (Fig. 7).
4. Expression of the synergy between the mechanical
wear and the corrosive damage.
During erosion tests in corrosive media, the main problem
is the definition of the synergism between, respectively, the
corrosive and the mechanical damage. This problem is high-
lighted in the case of passive materials because the electro-
chemical behaviour of a disturbed passive surface is not
completely understood [ 81. In terms of industrial problems
it is indeed important not only to know which is the control-
186-187 (1995) 533-541 537
ling contribution (erosion or corrosion), but also to predict
the evolution of these contribution as function of the rate of
abrasion.
4.1. Expressions for the synergy based on the
electrochemical measurements
A first approach to estimating synergism can be achieved
by comparing the two components of the total damage as a
function of the rate of abrasion measured with the acoustic
emission parameter. But as shown in Fig. 8, it has been found
that the main problem is the choice of the parameter to define
the corrosive damage: ( Ammc,F)or (Am,,,), where (A mc,F)
is the rate of corrosion deduced from the electrochemical
measurement and (Am,,) is the rate of corrosion deduced
from the difference between the total mass loss (A mat) and
the mechanical wear (Am,,) deduced from the acoustic
measurement and the linear relation in Fig. 5 (a).
These results ask the question of the validity of the faradaic
charge measurement to define the mass loss due to corrosion,
which seems to depend upon the abrasion rate.
This is confirmed by the results presented in Table 1. For
low abrading conditions (3 g l- ) a reasonable correlation
was found between the faradaic estimation and the corrosion
mass loss (Table 1). On the other hand, for a high level of
erosion (particle concentration higher than 15 g 1- ) the cor-
rosive mass loss cannot be estimated by calculating the far-
adaic charge involved (Table 1). In this table the particle
concentration is used as a qualitative parameter to character-
ize the aggressivity of the two-phase flow in the case of the
abrasion-corrosion loop used in this work (Fig. 1) .
As shown in Fig. 5 (b), the measurements of the mechan-
ical wear cannot be deduced from the particle concentration,
but only from the AE parameter which takes into account the
actual impacts. Consequently, the discussion of the discrep-
ancy between the actual and measured corrosion rate values
is based only on the estimation of the mechanical wear from
60 -
60 -
a
A.E.params(er (Vs)
Fig. 8. Contribution of the mechanical and corrosive damage to the total
damage: (A m*c), mechanical wear deduced from the acoustic measurement
and the linear relation in Fig. 5; (Am,,), rate of corrosion deduced from
the electrochemical measurement; (Am,,), rate of corrosion deduced from
the difference between the total mass loss (Am,,) and the mechanical wear
(Am,,,).
538 R. Okra et al. /Wear 186-187 (1995) 533-541

Table 1
Experimental results for abrasion-corrosion experiments as function of the abrading conditions. Influence of the abrasion rate (estimated by the concentration
of Sic particles, in g I-) upon the mean value of the signals

Sic (g I-) (A(r)) (mV) Mechanical wear from Total mass loss Corrosive mass loss Mass loss calculated from
(A(t)) (mgh-) (mg h-) (mg hh) (kO.01 mg) Faraday law (mg hh)
(3~0.01 mg) ( 3~0.01mg) (310.01 mg)

3 I 2.20 2.32 0.12 0.10

4 13 3.60 3.80 0.20 0.20
5 12 3.27 3.50 0.23 0.18
15 70 23.50 31.30 7.80 1.18
25 130 43.40 59.60 16.20 2.34

Abrading conditions: 316L SS, 1 M H,SO,, E= +0.2 V/SSE, Sic 500 pm

acoustic emission measurement and not from the increase of of the corrosive damage due to the total damage as function
the order of magnitude of the particle concentrations. of the rate of abrasion. Typical features has been found for
In conclusion it can be confirmed that the level of the the 3 16 SS in acidic solution.
abrading regime appears to be an important parameter which As shown in Figs. 9 and 10, this approach allows one to
controls the rate of the corrosive damage for passive materials compare the contribution of the corrosive damage in two
[91. opposite situations: imposed and free corroding conditions:
0 under potentiostatic control (in the passive range), the
4.2. Expression of the synergy based on the non- corrosive contribution which is low for the lower erosion
electrochemical measurements. rates, increases rapidly to a plateau value;
In this case the synergism has been expressed by the ratio ??in free corroding conditions the corrosive contribution is
) which has been chosen to quantify the part achieved whatever the rate of abrasion (the same ratio of
(Am,,,)l(Am,o
30% is reached).
40 These results show for a material in a given environment
that the stability of the passive film and its ability to repas-
sivate depends on the erosion rate, i.e. a critical erosion rate
could be defined from the diagram presented in Fig. 9. The
existence of a plateau value (the same in free or imposed
potential conditions) could be explained by assuming the
role of the passive film has achieved a dynamic state close to a statistical
passive film general destruction rate, which is probably a function of the
chemical nature of the environment.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 To illustrate this latter point, it was also shown that the
corrosive contribution increases with the aggressivity of the
A.E. parameter (V.e)
environment (Fig. 10). It can be seen that the higher the
Fig. 9. Comparison of the synergy in free corroding conditions and in
corrosivity of the medium, the higher the corrosive contri-
imposed potential conditions. Abrading conditions: 316L SS, 1 M HzS04,
bution plateau and the lower the critical erosion rate to
E= +0.2 V/SSE and E,,, SIC 500 urn.
achieve this plateau.
By such an approach it seems possible to give the basis of
apassivematerial selection guide which allows one to classify
60
i ti2S0440- through the corrosive plateau value or the critical erosion rate
to achieved this plateau value. From this point of view a kind
of analogy can be made with the slow strain-rate test, which
allows one to define a critical strain rate below repassivation
which can take place and allows the initiation of localized
cracking [ lo].
On the other hand this is a very interesting approach and
postulates that a damage map could be presented where the
AE parameter could be plotted against a corrosion parameter
-0 100 200 300 400 500 600
for such environments.

A.E. parameter (V.s)

5. Discussion
Fig. 10. Influence of the corrosive aggressivity of the medium on the synergy
between mechanical and corrosive damages. Abrading conditions: 316L SS, As the main questions which arose in understanding of the
E= +0.2 V/SSE, Sic 500 km. measurements of the acoustic and electrochemical parameters
 R. Okra et al. /Wear 186-187 (1995) 533-541 539

are due to the cumulation of individual events (solid-particle

impacts), the discussion will be focused on the analysis of
the mechanical and electrochemical responses.

5.1. Individual electrochemical response

It has been found that for high rates of abrasion the current
cannot be considered as a cumulative current (superposition
of all the elementary current transients) as if the depassiva-
tion-repassivation events were independent.
- I

This feature can be explained by the non-linear behaviour 0 lOi 2Oi8 3672 (&s)

of the passive interface submitted to high rates of consecutive

mechanical damages: a mean state of depassivation can be
assumed due to the overlapping (in time and space) of the
two competitive reactions of depassivation and repassivation.
In that case, the electrochemical response of the disturbed
interface to one particle impact depends on the electrochem-
ical state of the surrounding passive surface.
This was illustrated by performing the following experi-
ment. Two similar impacts (same flow rate, same SIC particle
of a large size 2 mm) were performed in two conditions:
0 the passive metallic target was impinged by the electrolyte;
0 the passive metallic target was continuously impinged by
O\
a suspension of small abrading SIC particles ( 100 pm> ; 0 1024 2043 3072 (ms)

in this case the passive film of the whole target is contin-

Fig. 11. Influence of the electrochemical state of the passive surface on the
uously disturbed. In other words it means that its electro- electrochemical response due to a well-defined impact. (a) No continuous
chemical impedance is modified. abrasion, a single impact particle Sic=2 pm; (b) continuous abrading
As shown in Fig. 11, the electrochemical time response conditions Sic 100 pm, a single impact particle Sic = 2 pm, target = 3 16L
depends on the electrochemical state of the passive surface. SS, E= +0.2 V/SSE.

The time constant of the response is larger if the passive

surface is continuously disturbed. It can be modelled using
the transfer function of the electrochemical cell [ 111 and
taking into account the decrease of the impedance of the
passive surface in the presence of the 100 pm slurries.
On the other hand the charge itself is dependent on the
change in the impedance of the passive surface: the transient
corrosion itself is controlled by the electrochemical state of
the surrounding surface. This confirms the electrochemical
non-linearity of a passive system in a slurry-containing fluid.
Parallel experiments (pulsed laser activation of passive
electrodes) have demonstrated the existence of transient cur-
rent coupling between localized activated area and passive
surface [ 121. Nevertheless this experiment does not clarify
the discrepancy between the electrochemical and the mass
loss measurements to estimate the corrosive contribution, as
shown in Fig. 8. Another approach of the electrochemical
behaviour could be tentatively proposed to explain this fea-
ture.
Under abrasion, the impedance of the passive surface
around each impact cannot be considered as a pure capaci-
tance [ 131. The ohmic component of the impedance leads to
a short circuit between the impedance of the impacted area
and that of the surrounding surface, which explains that par-
tial currents can flow directly from depassivated areas to
passive surfaces without flowing in the potentiostatic loop
[121.
For high regimes of abrasion, the ohmic part of the impe-
dance of the surrounding surface impedance is smaller and
increases the short circuit. In that case, the measured current
has a smaller mean value and fluctuation amplitude than the
linear sum of all the individual current transients involved in
the localized corrosion of the active areas if the depassiva-
tion-repassivation events were assumed to be independent.
Consequently, this other aspect of the non-linear behaviour
of such a system can be considered as a valid explanation for
the discrepancy between the values of the corrosion rate
obtained from the Faraday law and from the total mass loss
corrected for the mechanical wear.
5.2. Individual acoustic response
The main question about the acoustic emission is its rele-
vance to the measure of the mechanical wear (Fig. 5). Few
studies have been carried out to characterize the damage
related to an individual impact. For spherical particles, the
erosion rates have been estimated experimentally by aver-
aging the mass loss due to several impacts [ 141. The authors
have compared their measurements with theoretical calcula-
tions based on the formula developed by Finnie [ 151.
On the other hand the mechanism of mechanical removal
of matter by particle impacts remains unclear if only one
impact is assumed; it seems that in the case of cumulative
540 R. Oltra et al. /Wear
0 glass beads
A SIC
RMS( 1O-5V.s)
Fig. 12. Variation of the volume of the crater after abrasion as function of
the acoustic RMS response for individual impact of glass beads and Sic
particles. Abrading conditions: 316L SS, Na,S04 pH = 7. E= - 1.2 V/SSE.
impacts the removal of material is due to repetitive damage
promoting fatigue of the surface of the target which leads to
its embrittlement [ 161.
An experimental correlation between a characteristic of the
mechanical damage, the volume of the crater by laser profi-
lometry (UBM equipment) after the impact, and the RMS
acoustic response has been tentatively performed to clarify
the good correlation between the RMS and the mechanical
wear.
Two kinds of particles have been compared: glass beads
of various diameters (from 1 to 2.5 mm) and Sic particles
of various sizes (from 1 to 2.8 mm) have been used to pro-
mote individual impacts on a polished target. The results are
summarized in Fig. 12. It appears that only in the case of the
glass beads can a linearrelation be found between the acoustic
response and the volume of the crater.
Following the work of Hutchings [ 171, it can be assumed
for the glass beads that the kinetic energy is relaxed mainly
under plastic deformation (90%)) kinetic energy ( l-1 0%)
for the reflexion of the particle, and about l-5% under elastic
energy. The crater exhibits a typical indentation profile. It
can be deduced that the acoustic sensor on the opposite face
of the target will measure a part of this latter elastic wave
which will propagate through the target and then the results
obtained in Fig. 12 confirm that the acoustic emission is
mainly proportional to the kinetic energy of the particles, as
shown in Fig. 4.
Concerning the SIC particle, the crater shows a large con-
tribution of a scraping phenomena leading to plastic defor-
mation and the formation of a chip of metal. It is clear
from Fig. 12 that the volume of the initiated defect cannot be
correlated to the acoustic emission, i.e. the elastic energy
dissipated during the impact is not proportional to the volume
of the crater.
In the two cases no relation has been found between the
mass loss due to each kind of impact (indentation or scrap-
ing) and the acoustic emission, because no physical param-
eter allows the measurement at such low rates of the mass
loss which can be estimated to be around a few nanograms.
186187 (1995) 533-541
Hardness ( Hv )
300 j1
2oo
::.
100 /
0 100 500
thickness ( pm)
Fig. 13. Hardness profile after continuous abrasion on a 316L SS target
during 1 h.
On the other hand the previous experiments have been
performed on a polished metallic target in order to facilitate
the location of the impact and then the work hardening of the
metallic target in the case of continuous abrasion has not been
taken into account as shown in Fig. 13. Work is in progress
to check if, in the case of similar individual experiment, the
measurement of the volume of the crater could be close to a
linear relationship versus the acoustic emission in the case of
a SIC particle.
On the other hand the lack of correlation between the AE
parameters for Sic particles suggests also that a correction
could be made for particle angularity.
6. Conclusions
A new technique based on acoustic emission was devel-
oped and allowed the quantification of the erosion rate in
abrasion-corrosion experiments. The main problem
encountered in the use of AE in erosion experiments was
related to the accumulation of the individual burst emissions
at high frequency rates. This problem has been solved by
measuring the root mean square function of the AE signals
during all the erosion experiments. It gives a linear relation
between the RMS acoustic signal and the mass loss rate
related to the mechanical wear, which allows the synergy
between the corrosive damage and the abrasive wear to be
measured.
Nevertheless for individual impacts, acoustic emission has
only been correlated to the kinetic energy of the particle and
not to the mechanical damage itself (measure of the volume
of the crater) in the case of an abrading particle. Then this
very interesting relation between the mechanical wear and
the acoustic emission during continuous abrasion (cumula-
tive impacts) remains to be demonstrated for individual
impact, but the experimental measurement on a work-hard-
ened surface must probably be performed not by profilometry
but by another physical technique such as thin layer activa-
tion.
 R. Oltra et al. /Wear
The analysis of the electrochemical measurements con-
firms the non-linear behaviour of the corrosion current which
cannot be considered as the linear superposition of elemen-
tary current transients due to each impact, as if the depassi-
vation-repassivation events were independent. Consequently
the mean corrosion current does not yield the corrosion mass
loss with the Faraday law at high abrasion rates. This is
corroborated by the simultaneous analysis of the acoustic and
corrosion signals which shows that the corrosive damage is
larger at high abrasion rates, for a given mechanical damage.
It can be concluded that for the both damages encountered
in abrasion+orrosion studies, the system exhibits a non-lin-
ear behaviour, i.e. the mechanical and corrosive damages
which can be quantified in the case of cumulative events
cannot at the moment be clearly related to the measurements
which are performed during an individual impact, and this
could be a limitation for the development of models of such
processes.
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the Conseil
Regional de Bourgogne and Creusot-Loire Industrie.
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