Experimental study on the wear and damage behavior of different wheel/rail materials

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of hardness and contact stress on wear and damage behavior of wheel and rail materials using a rolling-sliding simulation facility. Furthermore, the hardness matching and damage mechanism of wheel and rail materials are explored and clarified using several techniques. The wear weight of wheel rollers increases nearly linearly with the hardness ratio of rail and wheel rollers. However, the wear weight of rail rollers linearly decreases at the same conditions. An increase in the hardness of the wheel material results in the damage mechanism of the wheel roller changing from small pitting and adhesion wear to delamination wear. Then the rail roller shows severe shelling damage. Practically, the matching of the hardness of wheel and rail materials shows significant potential for alleviating wear and surface damage. An increase in the contact stress results in the wear of wheel and rail rollers becoming more severe. The damage mechanism changes from small shelling to serious delamination damage and oxidation wear. The main compositions of wear debris are the oxide Fe2O3 and martensite. Accordingly, decreasing the contact stress is an effective measure for alleviating wear and damage of heavy-haul wheel and rail materials.