Gradients in rails at long-term operation

Abstract

Long-term operation of rails is accompanied by the formation of the gradient structural constituents consisting in the regular change in relative content of lamellar pearlite, fractured pearlite and structure of ferrite-carbide mixture in cross-selection of rail head. As the distance to the surface of railsincreases the relative content of metal volume with the structure of lamellar pearlite decreases and that with the structure of fractured pearlite and ferrite-carbide mixture increases. The ferrite-carbide mixture structure has a nanodimentional range of grains, subgrains and particles of the carbide phase forming it.