Abstract
To reproduce the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) damage of rail steel used in heavy haul railways and to clarify its possible mechanism, the RCF characteristics of pearlitic steel with different carbon content and initial hardness values are evaluated using a two-disk-type machine. The results indicate that the number of spalls and the crack depth decrease with increasing carbon content of pearlitic steel even when the initial hardness is almost the same level. Furthermore, an increase in the carbon content increases the hardness of the rolling contact surface, resulting in the suppression of the plastic flow development. Results also indicate that the crack inclination angle varies depending on the carbon content. According to these results, a possible mechanism for the suppression of fatigue crack propagation in higher carbon pearlitic steel is proposed on the basis of the fracture mechanics approach.
Published Version
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