On the concept of selection of steels for high-strength railroad wheels

Abstract

On the basis of the results of statistical analysis of the in-service defects of high-strength railroad wheels and the data of related laboratory investigations of wheel steels, it is shown that the major part of these defects are pockmarks and flats formed on the rolling surface. Therefore, it is necessary to change the concept of selection of steels for high-strength wheels in order to take into account not only the characteristics of strength and hardness (wear resistance) but also the characteristics of crack resistance under the conditions of contact fatigue. The new concept should be based on the approaches of the structural mechanics of fatigue fracture and aimed at the production of high-strength wheel steels with lowered carbon contents and higher characteristics of cyclic crack-growth resistance under the conditions of mode I and mode II fracture.