The investigation of the fatigue failure of passenger carriage draw-hook

Abstract

In the presented paper, the failure of the passenger carriage draw-hook is examined. Observation of the crack surfaces revealed the fatigue character of the examined failure. The carefully carried out analysis of the material and draw-hook assembly, together with the FEM, showed that the failure was the result of several contributing factors. To prevent similar failures in the future, it is needed to make significant changes in the relevant standard about prescribing the acceptance conditions, modify the design of the draw-hook and use some of the new advanced steels with increased mechanical properties.