Study on the wear and damage behaviors of hypereutectoid rail steel in low temperature environment

In this study, the wear and damage behaviors of three heavy haul rail steels (including one hypereutectoid rail steel and two eutectoid rail steels) were investigated at room (around 20 °C) and low (−40 °C) temperatures using a rolling-sliding wear test machine. The results indicated that, compared with eutectoid steels, the hypereutectoid rail steel had a better wear resistance and a better rolling contact fatigue (RCF) resistance at the room temperature, and better wear resistance but worse RCF resistance at the low temperature. Compared with the room temperature, at the low temperature both the hypereutectoid and eutectoid rails had better wear resistance, the RCF resistance of eutectoid steels was improved but the RCF resistance of hypereutectoid rail was reduced. At the room temperature, the worn surfaces of both wheel and rail materials were dominated by surface cracks. On the contrary, at the low temperature, the worn surfaces of wheel and rail materials were dominated by third body layers (TBLs) and oxidized spots, respectively.