Investigating the effects of contact pressure on rail material abrasive belt grinding performance

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation into the effects of various contact pressures on the abrasive belt grinding performance of rail material. The contact relations between the contact wheel covered with elastic rubber and the head surface of the rail are first analytically discussed as they relate to the pressure distribution. The contact pressure, which is proposed as the control variable in grinding experiments instead of the loaded force, apparently indicates a highly accurate contact state. Accordingly, contact pressure was chosen as a variable parameter for abrasive belt grinding experiments on an Mn-steel rail workpiece. The results of the experiment, including material removal rate, grinding ratio, surface roughness, hardness, chip size, and chip elements, are discussed in detail. Elevated contact pressure exerted a positive influence on material removal rate in the experiments, and the surface hardness of the ground rail surface increased as contact pressure increased. Conversely, grinding ratio decreased with increasing contact pressure. The size of chips also increased as contact pressure increased, as did the oxygen content in the chips—this may indicate that Fe3O4 and Fe2O3 content in the chips also increased as contact pressure increased.