Material choice for water pump impeller
Material choice for water pump impeller
(OP)
Hey Guys,
I have been tasked with replacing the damaged impellers of a group of water/slurry pumps that are used in the mining industry. They do see a fair bit of nasty fluids including sea water.
The impellers are currently cast iron, and the failure mode is the impeller blades wear away. I was thinking a replacement of 1020 steel fully machined, however I have little experience in material selection, particularly when it comes to corrosion.
What am I overlooking here?
Stainless is not an option unfortunately.
cheers,
Joel
I have been tasked with replacing the damaged impellers of a group of water/slurry pumps that are used in the mining industry. They do see a fair bit of nasty fluids including sea water.
The impellers are currently cast iron, and the failure mode is the impeller blades wear away. I was thinking a replacement of 1020 steel fully machined, however I have little experience in material selection, particularly when it comes to corrosion.
What am I overlooking here?
Stainless is not an option unfortunately.
cheers,
Joel





RE: Material choice for water pump impeller
What finish was used originally, and are there any new surface treatments that might be better?
Not quite the same requirement but take a look at thread330-295440: Strong, hardenable, corrosion resstant steel? for ideas.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Material choice for water pump impeller
What is the original producer offering you? If they are worn then you can't reverse engineer the blade shape.
Fabricated impellers are usually difficult. Even if you can get the geometry correct they tend to have issues with fatigue at welds.
You should not use a plain steel. If you really want better life then you need to look at alloys like 3CR12 or other straight Cr stainless grades.
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Plymouth Tube
RE: Material choice for water pump impeller
You need to do some industrial archaeology. Dig through the purchase records of the company until you find what material was originally specified for the pumps, and whatever was specified for the previous set of impellers.
You will probably find that the extant impellers are not generic 'cast iron', but a high tech abrasion resistant alloy that costs even more than stainless steel.
Whatever it is, work from there.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Material choice for water pump impeller
rmw
RE: Material choice for water pump impeller
Warman pumps used Ni-hard for their slurry pumps.
RE: Material choice for water pump impeller
h
hope this help
S
Corrosion Control
RE: Material choice for water pump impeller