Abstract Engineering ceramic materials, such as zirconia-toughened ceramic, nitride and carbide ceramics, are finding ever increasing applications in the development of modern industry and technology and have been playing an active role in corrosion/erosion resistant applications. This study aims to assess the corrosion and erosion resistance of ceramic components in solid - liquid environments with particular reference to offshore pumping applications. The effects of corrosion/erosion on the chemical/mechanical properties and microstructures of engineering ceramic materials were investigated and characterised, using a chemical etch bed (1.5 % HF + 5 % HCl), which was used as in the oil industry to clean downhole pipes, and a sand - water slurry erosion test rig. A series of corrosion and erosion tests were carried out and the morphology, structure and chemical analysis of the samples was investigated using optical microscopy, SEM, XRD and AAS(Atomic absorption spectroscopy). Under the test conditions, SiC shows the best chemical and erosion resistance of the four ceramics; and alumina has the highest corrosion and erosion rate. The erosion and corrosion response, the degeneration of mechanical properties and the micromechanisms of the surface damage for these ceramic materials are presented and discussed .