Erosion enormously affects the chemical processing industry and the oil and gas industry. Particulates in the stream of flow cause material loss to the tune of millions of dollars. Parameters that are known to affect erosion include particle size, impact angle and velocity. However, very few have studied the effects of the stress state of the target on erosion rates. This paper studies the erosion rates of stainless steel 304 under the effects of a uniaxial stress from an external tensile load. Loads up to 70% of yield strength (YS) were applied and erosion rates were determined from the weight loss of the samples. The Taguchi method was used to analyze the influence of each parameter on the erosion rates. Results show that velocity and particle size enormously affect erosion rates followed by angle of impact. Stress state of the target showed no significant effects on erosion rates.