On wear transitions in the wheel-rail contact

Abstract: Wear transitions in the wheel–rail contact are of increasing interest since the general trend in railway traffic is toward increased velocities and axle loads. Curving increases the risk of flanging, causing the contact to change from an almost pure rolling wheel tread–rail head contact to more of a sliding wheel flange–rail gauge contact on the high rail in curves.Under wheel flange–rail gauge contact conditions, wear transitions to severe or catastrophic wear will occur if the contact is improperly lubricated. Such a transition is the most undesirable transition in the wheel–rail contact, as it represents a very expensive operating condition for railway companies. The contact conditions responsible for this transition are very severe as regards sliding velocity and contact pressure, and thus place high demands on both the lubricant and the wheel and rail materials.The focus of this thesis is on the transitions between different wear regimes in a wheel–rail contact. Wear is discussed both in traditional tribological terms and in terms of the categories used in the railway business, namely mild, severe and catastrophic wear. Most of the work was experimental and was performed at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Department of Machine Design.The effects of contact pressure, sliding velocity, and type of lubricant have been investigated, producing results that resemble those of other studies presented in the literature. The absence of research relating to the wheel flange–rail gauge contact is addressed, and it is concluded that a lubricant film must be present on rails in curves to prevent severe or catastrophic wear. The formulation of this lubricant can further increase its wear- and seizure-preventing properties. To obtain a deeper understanding of wear transitions, methods such as airborne particle measurement and electron microscopy have been used.Paper A presents the test methodology used to detect seizure and discusses the wear-reducing influence of free carbon in highly loaded contacts.Paper B presents the testing of seizure-initiating conditions for a range of environmentally adapted lubricants applied to wheel and rail materials; a transient pin-on-disc test methodology was used for the testing.Paper C presents the use of pin-on-disc methodology to study the wear-reducing effects of a wide range of lubricants. The best performing lubricant was a mineral oil containing EP and AW additives.Paper D relates wear rates and transitions to airborne particles generated by an experimentally simulated wheel–rail contact. The airborne particles generated varied in size distribution and amount with wear rate and mechanism.Paper E relates additional analysis techniques, such as FIB sectioning, ESCA analysis, airborne particle measurements, and SEM imaging of airborne wear particles, to the contact temperature.