Wear of 12 alloys during laboratory milling of phosphate rock in phosphoric acid waste water

As part of its research on wear of mining and mineral processing equipment, the US Bureau of Mines evaluated the erosion-corrosion characteristics of 12 alloys in phosphoric acid waste water. Tests were conducted on 2- and 5-cm-diam specimen8 in 12- and 60-cm-diam ball mills by grinding phosphate rock in gypsum pond water with an initial pH of 1.6. For comparison, grinding tests also were conducted in tap water. Static corrosion tests in gypsum pond water also were carried out. For all alloys tested, the wear by erosion-corrosion was greater than the sum of erosion plus static corrosion. A low-alloy, high-carbon steel and a high-manganese, nitrided stainless steel were the most cost-effective materials