Study of the damage induced by thermomechanical load in ER7 tread braked railway wheels

This work aims to better understand the complex damage phenomena taking place at the wheel/brake block interface due to the thermomechanical load. An experimental procedure, articulated in three series of tests carried out with a bi-disc machine, was designed in order to experimentally simulate in controlled laboratory conditions the thermomechanical history of the real wheel during stop braking. The first series of tests was performed on ER7 wheel steel discs paired with cast iron shoe material discs, setting the sliding speed and the contact load in such a way to generate the heat flux needed to reproduce the typical tread temperature of a real wheel in stop braking. The second series was carried out by repeating the tests in the conditions of the first series and subsequently subjecting the tested wheel specimens to rolling/sliding contact with discs of 350HT rail steel. The third series was carried out by repeating the two phases of the second series and subsequently adding water to the contact interface of the wheel-rail specimens. Measurements of friction coefficient, surface temperature and weight changes were carried out during the tests. At the end, cross-sections of the specimens were observed with an optical microscope. The hardness along the depth was measured. It was observed that during the braking phase parts of the wheel specimen surface are coated by a discontinuous layer of cast iron that is transferred from the brake block specimens. During the braking phase and the subsequent phase of dry contact with the rail specimen, the transferred material is removed, promoting the nucleation of surface cracks; in addition, surface cracks are generated also by ratcheting due to high friction. During the subsequent wet contact phase, these cracks propagate in the wheel disc due to the pressurization of the fluid entrapped inside the cracks. The propagation of surface cracks in wet contact was assessed by a fracture mechanics approach, including the Finite Element simulation of a surface crack with entrapped fluid. The stress intensity factor range during a load pass was calculated and compared with the propagation threshold of the ER7 steel, determining this way the critical depth of surface cracks. This study is a step towards a damage tolerant approach for the designing and maintaining tread-braked wheels.