Abstract
Rolling contact fatigue twin-disc tests were performed on rail/wheel steels from Spanish high velocity trains (AVE). Residual stress profiles were determined using X-ray diffraction before and after cyclic loading. The evolution of residual stress profiles, due to cyclic loading, was analysed in order to study how they affect the rolling contact fatigue behaviour of these materials. This study is included in a major project where other related phenomena and materials’ properties have been studied.
Highlights
One of the most crucial subjects in railways’ components failure is rolling contact fatigue (RCF)
Some interruptions of the twin disc tests were made for measuring contact surface roughness and topography, mass loss and surface residual stresses, to follow their evolution during the rolling contact fatigue process
The twin disc rolling contact fatigue tests performed in wheel and rail materials allowed to conclude that under the tested conditions the running-in phase of the studied materials ends after approximately 5 million rotations, and rolling contact fatigue cracks appear at the contact surface after 15 to 18 million cycles in lubricated conditions
Summary
One of the most crucial subjects in railways’ components failure is rolling contact fatigue (RCF). Simultaneous studies of surface integrity (i.e. detection of surface defects), wear (i.e. mass loss), roughness, and residual stress were carried out during twin disc contact fatigue tests, aiming at the identification of time dependency of these parameters, since all of them play a part in the running-in and service stages of the wheel and rail.
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