Effect of shoe braking on wear and fatigue damage of various railway wheel steels for high speed applications

The effect of shoe braking on three railway wheel steels was studied by means of bi-disc tests, in order to evaluate the applicability of shoe braking as an emergency stop braking system in high-speed passenger trains. Disc-shaped specimens, extracted from real wheels, were initially paired with discs extracted from cast iron brake blocks, in condition of rolling and sliding such to reach the typical temperature of the surface of a wheel rim during stop braking. Subsequently, the wheel discs were coupled with rail steel discs in rolling and sliding dry contact. Some of them were cut and analysed; other ones were subsequently subjected to rolling and sliding contact with rail specimens in wet condition, with various test duration. Measurements of the coefficient of friction and of the weight loss were carried out during the tests; at the end of the tests, hardness measurements and microstructure observation were made on the disc cross-sections. The main damage phenomena observed in the specimens subjected to wheel-brake contact and to dry wheel-rail contact were ratcheting, wear and nucleation of surface cracks. Traces of cast iron, previously transferred from the brake specimens to the wheel ones, were detected. The main damage phenomenon observed in the specimens subjected to wheel-brake, dry wheel-rail and wet wheel-rail contact was rolling contact fatigue, developing by the propagation of surface cracks due to the pressurization of the water entrapped inside the cracks. All of these phenomena were found to be similar to those observed in wheel specimens subjected to wheel-rail contact only. The effect of the cast iron traces on surface crack propagation was evaluated by means of finite element simulations and it was found to be limited. Therefore, the application of shoe braking as emergency stop braking system to high speed trains did not evidence any relevant contraindications.