Rolling Contact Fatigue Damage Behavior of Different Rail Materials and Operating Parameters in Water Environment

To gain an in-depth understanding of the impact of different rail materials and operating parameters on rolling contact fatigue damage of rails in an aqueous medium, rolling contact fatigue damage tests were conducted using the MJP-30A rolling contact fatigue testing machine. The tests involved 7 types of rails with different materials and U75VH rails under 3 different working conditions in an aqueous medium.

The rail hardness, strength, material microstructure, and laws of rolling contact fatigue damage were analyzed, and the mechanism of rail rolling contact fatigue damage in an aqueous medium was clarified. The results show that pearlite lamellar spacing is one of the key factors affecting the mechanical properties (hardness, strength) of rails and their fatigue performance in an aqueous medium environment. For rails of the same type, as the pearlite lamellar spacing decreases, the hardness and strength of the rails increase, while the length and depth of fatigue cracks show a decreasing trend.