Investigation on wear and rolling contact fatigue of wheel-rail materials under various wheel/rail hardness ratio and creepage conditions.

The wear and rolling contact fatigue of wheel-rail materials were investigated through varying wheel/rail hardness ratios (H w / H r) and creepages. The results indicated that with the H w / H r increasing from 0.927 to 1.218, the wheel wear rate reduced significantly in the case of H w / H r = 1.218, the rail wear rate showed an increasing trend. Both the wheel and rail wear rates increased as the creepage enlarged. The synergistic results of H w / H r and creepage caused a transition of the wear and damage mechanisms on the wheel-rail steels. Besides, the fatigue damage of ER7 and CL60 wheel materials was dominated by slender multi-layer cracks, while the fatigue cracks were short and contained lots of interlayer broken materials on C-class wheel steel. • As H w / H r increases, the wheel wear rate declines while the rail wear rate increases. • With the slip ratio increasing, both of the wheel and rail wear rates increase. • The wear and fatigue damage mechanisms transform as the H w / H r and slip ratio increase. • The fatigue crack morphology is closely related to the microstructures of materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]