Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Wear
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wear

The competitive role of wear and RCF: Full scale experimental

assessment of artificial and natural defects in railway wheel treads
Stefano Cantini, Steven Cervello n
Lucchini RS, Lovere, Italy

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Assessments of the severity of wheels tread defects under rolling contact fatigue conditions are in
Received 12 October 2015 general very uncertain when based on theoretical concepts supported only by small scale material
Received in revised form characterization and without the possibility of a full scale validation. In real service conditions, the tread
17 June 2016
surface and subsurface defects are subject to a number of variable mechanical loading conditions given
Accepted 18 June 2016
Available online 23 June 2016
by the combination of vertical and lateral loads and wheelset steering. The present paper describes some
interesting experiences from recent RCF tests performed by Lucchini RS on its full scale roller rig (named
Keywords: “BU300”) on two very high speed railway wheelsets coming from revenue trafic. The test rig was used in
Railway wheels order to reproduce running conditions very near to normal service conditions. A concept for test
Rolling contact fatigue
acceleration was applied: the ratio curve distance/straight distance was increased, since curves are more
Wear
critical to RCF compared to straight running. Firstly, the scope of the test was to monitor the behavior of
Full scale roller rig
defects in order to evaluate the impact on the safe integrity and to reduce RCF damage by considering
two different steel grades: ER8 (EN13262) and Superloss developed by LucchiniRS. Secondly the results
of the tests provided interesting information regarding rate of crack propagation.Depending on the crack
depth from the tread surface and the wear rate obtained, an important basis for describing the com-
petitive role of RCF and wear is offered. In addition some considerations on preventive wheel reprofiling
(skimming) strategies are proposed that can reduce RCF impact on wheel life. The accumulated results
are also valuable since they can be used as a basis for the validation of RCF models. Finally this work
confirms the ability of the roller rig to reproduce equivalent service running conditions that can generate
RCF cracks similar to those found in service.
& 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction
The thin surface layer immediately under the wheel tread
surface is subjected to severe loading conditions. The material
accumulates plastic damage and may eventually generate cracks. If
the wear rate (uniform detachment of material particles) is greater
than the propagation of cracks, fatigue is avoided.
For this reason we can say that a competition exists between
wear and development of rolling fatigue cracks on wheels.
Railway wheels during their service are subjected to wear that
periodically calls for re-profiling which of course limits their life.
Depending on the rail line characteristics the wear rate can change
significantly; especially in the case of narrow curves, wear will
concentrate in the flange area requiring the turning of a larger
thickness of material wasting a great part of the wheel life. Wheel
life can be extended by optimizing the re-profiling interval on the
n
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: s.cervello@lucchinirs.it (S. Cervello).
basis of the measured tread wear; this can be considered a pre-
ventive re-profiling also called “skimming”.
Basically wear is a normal wheel tread damaging process that
must be managed through the maintenance practice. An alter-
native to frequent re-profiling may be to change the wheel
material to a harder one, but this can lead to a different balance
between wear rate and RCF cracks development resulting in a
worse behavior.
Surface or sub-surface cracks can limit the wheel life in a more
radical way than wear, since growth of cracks will increase the
surface irregularities generating substantial vibrations and high
dynamic forces, thus introducing an unstable damaging process.
Vibration diagnostic systems on board or on the line will normally
detect such critical conditions at a late stage requiring substantial
material removal when turning.
The phenomena of wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) are
very complex due to the number of factors that influence the lives
of the components. RCF is mainly affected by loading conditions,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2016.06.020
0043-1648/& 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.
326 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337
Fig. 1. Examples of RCF on wheel treads.
rolling/sliding ratio, material properties and surface
characteristics, etc.
Moreover the presence of high humidity is normally recog-
nized as an accelerating factor for the crack growth.
Micro-cracks tend to generate on the tread internal (near to the
flange) and external side. Eventually these cracks can propagate
resulting in shelling (dropping off of metal parts), or the propa-
gation may be slow giving advantage to the wear rate to wear off
the micro-cracks.
It's generally recognized that the increasing of the wheel tread
hardness can worsen the RCF phenomena. One reason for this is
that as the wear rate is reduced due to the higher hardness, the
micro-cracks that may initiate in certain service conditions will
tend to grow deeper before the wear can actually remove them.
Examples of RCF cracks are shown in Fig. 1; a reference for RCF
damage description and classification can be found in [1,2].
An ideal steel grade, would be the one that reduces the pro-
pagation of surface micro-cracks generated by the normal high
surface plastic strain and that permits a minimum amount of wear
in order to gradually clean and smooth the tread surface.
Another cause for serious tread surface damage is when an
internal defect in the rim (normally an inclusion from the manu-
facturing process)starts growing, under the dynamic loading of the
rim, resulting in a large detachment of material (shelling).
The theoretical assessment of the above described tread damage
is a very complex task, bearing in mind that specific running con-
ditions must be considered. This kind of investigation is normally
based on the material characterization identifying the local contact
loading and slip conditions that generate wear or surface ratcheting.
A typical parameter considered is the Tγ/A where T is the wheel/rail
contact load at the contact area A and, γ the relative slip between
the wheel and the rail [3]. Of course in a real scenario the above
3 variables depend on the vehicle running conditions that can be
estimated with a multi-body model of the vehicle that must include
a sophisticated wheel/rail contact model.
The following paragraphs of this paper compare the wear rate
and RCF performance of two wheelsets with wheels of two dif-
ferent steel grades, ER8 [4] and Superloss [5,6] under full scale
running conditions near to real service, including tangent track
and curves. At the same time the paper intends to offer an
opportunity for validating theoretical models and experimental
assessment of the growth of specific tread defects with respect to
loading and running conditions.
2. BU300 roller rig
Fig. 2 shows the BU300 test rig installed at the Lucchini RS
laboratory in Lovere (Italy).
The test rig allows for installation of any kind of wheelset. The
wheelset is connected to a rigid transversal beam through a typical
axle box, primary suspension, vertical damper and also a long-
itudinal damper to reduce for the risk ofyaw instability.
On the transversal beam are acting one lateral and two vertical
hydraulic actuators and four longitudinal electro mechanical
actuators for regulating the yaw angle of the wheelset.
The rotation of the wheelset is given by the lower roller,
directly driven by a 500 kW electric motor. The roller has two
shrink-fitted metal rings that in the transversal section reproduce
the geometry of a standard UIC60 rail (see details in Fig. 3). The
external diameter of the rail-rings is 2 m. The maximum wheelset
speed is limited to 300 km/h.
The hydraulic actuators can be controlled to follow dynamic
displacement or force signals. In normal operation the test rig
controller will synchronously control forces on the vertical and
lateral actuators and the wheelset yaw angle through the long-
itudinal actuators simulating right and left curve and straight
running conditions.
The above signals are generally time histories derived from a
simulator that receives as inputs wheel/rail contact forces and
wheelset kinematic time histories that are calculated by a railway
vehicle multi-body simulator; this simulator requires inputs that
describe the vehicle and track mass, spring and damper components.
In the case of the rolling contact fatigue tests described in this
paper, the load and kinematic time histories applied by the test rig
to the installed wheelset is given by the following variables:
wheel/rail vertical contact loads (Q1 and Q2), the total lateral load
(Y), the speed and the yaw angle (γ).
The sequence of the time histories represent a repetition of
right and left curve and straight running conditions. Compared to
a real track, here the length of the straight line is considerably
reduced as the curving conditions will be much more damaging;
in this way it is possible to accelerate the wear and the RCF
 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337 327

Fig. 2. BU300 roller rig.

Fig. 3. Picture of wheel/rail contact on the BU300 test rig.

Fig. 4. Drawing of the first and second trailer wheelsets.

process; for the present tests we can assume that the number of
kilometers reproduced on the test rig can be considered repre-
sentative of at least 5 times the kilometers run in service. Of
course this is only a rough estimation as it will depend very much
on the actual reference rail line.

3. Tested wheelsets

Two separate testing campaigns were performed on two Luc-

chini RS wheelsets (Fig. 4) with wheels of two different steel
grades, ER8 [4] and Superloss [5,6]; both of them came from the
Chinese high speed rail service and were installed under two
different rail vehicles.

3.1. First trailer wheelset Fig. 5. Position on the tread of the natural defect.

The first trailer wheelset was taken out of service with the
purpose of performing a RCF test; the wheels are made of the
Superloss steel grade. There were no original defects and it was
decided to machine the wheel treads to the minimum fully worn
diameter of 810 mm.
In order to initiate cracks and their possible propagation due to
rolling fatigue in different tread areas and at different depths, artificial
defects in the form of linear surface cuts were made on the tread of
both wheels using electric discharging technique (see Section 3.3).
328 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337
Fig. 6. Position of artificial cuts and indentations on the wheel tread; the letter A, B, C
identify the position of the linear cuts and the number the depth in millimeters; the
letter D identifies the circumferential indentations made only on the second wheelset.
Fig. 7. Example of tread surface artificial defects: A, B, C cuts on the left and D indentations on the right.
Fig. 8. Loading time histories reproduced during the part I of the test: wheel/rail vertical contact forces (Q1 and Q2) (above) and total lateral force (FY) acting on the wheelset
(below).
3.2. Second trailer wheelset
A second trailer wheelset, having wheels made from ER8 steel
grade, was taken out of service since rim UT (Ultra Sound Test)
inspection of one of the wheels indicated a localized natural defect
under the tread. This wheel was chosen for the RCF test in order to
evaluate how the defect would evolve under realistic but severe
load conditions, the second wheel of the same wheelset was
prepared with artificial cuts as for the first wheelset.
Before starting the RCF test, a UT inspection was performed
from the tread surface, using a double focalized probe, able to
detect reflecting defects parallel to the tread surface to a depth of
50 mm.
The extension of the UT indication was about 35
30 mm in
the middle of the tread (Fig. 5); the depth was between 4 and
11 mm. The outer surface was smooth and regular. The indication
was supposed to be related to subsurface cracks nucleated from a
cluster of inclusions each smaller than 1 mm.
3.3. Artificial cuts
On the basis of RCF damages found in the service, it was
decided to machine a number of artificial cuts on the wheels
treads.
The dimensions of each cut were: length ¼10 mm, thickness ¼
around 0.4–0.5 mm and depth ¼1, 2 or 3 mm. In addition to the
linear defects, spherical indentations with a diameter of about 3–
4 mm were made on the second wheelset.
The proposed cut shapes and depths are not to be considered
realistic service defects but a way of initiating real cracks and
 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337 329

Fig. 9. Wheelset speed (above) and yaw angle (below) time histories.
25.000 eq.km
40.000 eq.km
50.000 eq.km
65.000 eq.km

Fig. 10. Evolution of cuts (3 mm deep on the outer, central and flange side of the tread) during part I of the RCF test performed on the first wheelset.
330 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337
Fig. 11. Loading time histories reproduced during the part II of the test: wheel/rail vertical contact forces (Q1 and Q2) (above) and total lateral force acting on the wheelset
(below).
analyze their propagation in different tread position and depth.
Fig. 6 shows the positions of the 9 cuts plus the 3 spherical
indentations; the 9 cuts were transversal respect to the rolling
circle and 40° from each other. They were placed laterally on three
rolling circles; A on outer side, B at a central position, and C near
the flange. Each cut is identified by the letter A, B or C giving the
lateral position and the number 1, 2 and 3 referring to the initial
depth in millimeters. The 3 spherical indentations with a diameter
of 3 mm were placed in the central rolling surface, at 120° from
each other and identified with the letter D. Examples of artificial
cuts and indentations are shown in Fig. 7.
4. Full scale RCF tests
4.1. Tests performed on the first wheelset
4.1.1. Load time histories and monitoring of defects (part I)
The first wheelset went through a time history sequence that is
represented in Figs. 8 and 9, and was repeated in order to run an
equivalent service distance of 65.000 km (a factor 5 on tested
distances was used to express an equivalent service distance).
Visual inspections (see Fig. 10) performed during the tests at
25.000, 40.000, 50.000 and 65.000 equivalent service km show
that the cuts tend to plastically close; due to this deformation
small cracks (about 1 mm long ) are sometimes generated at the
tips of the cuts. However, these small cuts don’t seem to propagate
further and they tend to be removed by wear.
Cuts of type B appear more stressed during straight running
and compared to the others, generate smaller cracks and tend to
disappear faster. Whereas cuts on the flange side result to be more
plastically deformed to close themselves. No new surface RCF
cracks were generated during this part of the test.
4.1.2. Load time histories and monitoring of defects (part II – extreme
loads)
The surface appearence obtained at the end of part I of the test
was relatively good as no new RCF cracks had initiated and the
existing ones seemed to be gradually worn off. It was so decided to
increase in an extreme way the loading condition.
Fig. 11 shows how the load sequence was modified: maximum
wheel/rail vertical contact forces (Q1 and Q2) were both increased to
170 kN (that may be obtained when running over non-welded rail
joints or switches).The maximum vertical and lateral loads on the first
two curves were respectively increased to 120 and 60 kN. This new
sequence was repeated for a total of 125.000 equivalent service km.
The adopted extreme loads are introduced to consider the
surface stress history of one point on the tread that is simulta-
neously subjected to a vertical impact load generated by a non-
welded rail joint and a lateral load induced by a switch. It is
estimated that the extreme load condition applied at the tests is
similar to a wheel passing over a rail joint every 25 m.
Part II of the RCF test resulted in the generation of surface
cracks all around the tread surface: on the outer side and, spe-
cially, on the flange side where minor loss of material was found.
In the same areas it was difficult to recognize the original artificial
cuts. Fig. 12 shows details of the 3 mm deep cuts in the three
positions of the tread: it's interesting to notice the inclination of
the natural cracks generated by the higher lateral creep forces in
 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337
Starting of part II test
65.000 eq. km
+ 125.000 eq. km
End of part II test
Detail of the artificial
defect
MT
Fig. 12. Evolution of cuts (3 mm deep on the outer, central and flange side of the tread) at the starting and ending of the part II of the RCF test performed on the first
wheelset.
the outer side of the tread and also the heavy cracks in the
flange area.
The straight running condition generates a narrow band of
transversal cracks in the middle of the tread that assumedly are
related to the high vertical force of 170 kN and the associated
increase in tangential load.
4.1.3. Crack propagation analysis
Fig. 13 shows magnified images of the cross sections of the
defects after the RCF test; the plastic shear deformation of the cuts
is very clear at least down to 1,5 mm.
Considering the residual depth of the artificial cuts compared
to the original, an amount of wear can be estimated for the three
positions across the tread; the flange shows a higher amount of
wear that may be explained by the higher creepage forces. The
wear values obtained (around 1 mm) related to the equivalent
service distance (125.000 km) appears to be slightly lower com-
pared to what is found in service (1–2 mm per 100.000 km),
meaning that the factor for determining the equivalent distance
from the testing distance could be reduced accordingly.
331
At the tips of the cuts some propagation takes place in a
branching mode; the table reports for each cut the vertical pro-
jection of propagation started at its tip; the same information is
provided for the natural cracks generated where no cut was
present.
From this analysis it's clear that the crack propagation tends to
be reduced by increasing the depth. Also the angle of propagation
tends to change from vertical to horizontal (parallel to the tread
surface) by increasing the depth, suggesting that at this depth the
shear stress tends to be maximized. The propagation of the natural
cracks is actually higher than what can be seen in the crosscuts
images as the initial portion was worn during the test.
4.2. Tests performed on the second wheelset
4.2.1. Load time histories and monitoring of defects
The second wheelset went through a time history sequence
that is represented in Figs. 14 and 15, and was repeated to a total of
150.000 equivalent service km.
The analysis shows that the cuts tend to plastically close
assuming a curved line shape, probably due to the combined
332 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337

Cutdept
Wear

0.69 mm 0.65 mm 0.95 mm

0 mm

Vertical propagation: 0.40mm Vertical propagation: 0.66mm

Vertical propagation: 0.50mm
1 mm

Vertical propagation: 0.47mm Vertical propagation: 0.36mm Vertical propagation: 0.68mm

2 mm

Vertical propagation: 0.19mm Vertical propagation: 0.08mm Vertical propagation: 0.39mm

3 mm

Vertical propagation: 0.19mm Vertical propagation: 0.06mm Vertical propagation: 0.30mm

Fig. 13. Cross cut analysis of the 6 cuts and the natural cracks at the end of the part II of the RCF test performed on the first wheelset.

effect of the longitudinal and lateral creepage forces. Initially
some small cracks (around 1–2 mm long) are sometimes gener-
ated at the tips of the cuts but apparently they do not tend to
propagate further as the total length tends to stabilize during
the test.
It's interesting to note that the central area of the tread is
smooth with no natural cracks similar to the ones found on the
first wheelset after part II of the test, in which the vertical load was
much higher.
In the lateral areas (at cuts A and C) a large number of natural
cracks have developed. They are in parallel with a spacing of about
2 mm. Both cuts and the natural cracks have very similar shapes
becoming thus difficult to distinguish (see Fig. 16).
The optical and final MT (Magnetic Particle Test) inspection on
the artificial spherical indentations (see Fig. 17) shows that a few
small cracks (maximum 1 mm long) tend to generate around the
external circle. The diameter of the external circle tends to be
reduced from about 4 mm to about 3 mm, probably due to the
wear. The analysis of the cross section in Fig. 20 shows the plastic
compression on the indentation external sides.
4.2.2. Crack propagation analysis
Fig. 19 shows magnified images of the cross sections of the cuts
after the RCF test. Compared to defect analysis of the first wheelset
(Section 4.1.3), it is found that natural crack growth is higher.
However, in the central position of the tread there are no natural
 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337 333

Fig. 14. Loading time histories reproduced during the phase 1 of the test: wheel/rail vertical contact forces (Q1 and Q2) (above) and total lateral force acting on the wheelset
(below).

Fig. 15. Wheelset speed (above) and yaw angle (below) time histories.

cracks, as previously noticed at the surface MT inspection. On the
other hand, the propagation shape and inclination are similar to
the ones found on the first wheelset.
5. Comparing wear and RCF in the two wheelsets
Table 1 summarizes the loading conditions applied during the
RCF tests on the two wheelsets. Unfortunately the two tests were
performed in different periods and so the loading condition were
not identical.
The crack propagation values estimated in the three tread
positions, at the three levels of depth are normalized over a dis-
tance of 150.000 eq.km, and plotted in Fig. 22 as a function of
depth. The depth reference (0) is placed at the original surface
before starting the test. The first points of the curves at depth ¼
0 indicate the total propagation of the natural crack including the
visible vertical propagation in the cross cut sections (Figs. 13 and
19) plus the amount of wear. The wear rate is identified by the
horizontal dotted lines and their intersection with the propagation
curves represent the hypothetical point where the crack propa-
gation speed will equal the wear rate.
A first conclusion that can be drawn by the crack propagation
analysis is that RCF cracks (when exist) at the beginning tend to
propagate faster than the wear, but then the crack propagation
speed is reduced while the crack gets deeper.
At a certain depth (0,6–1,3 mm) cracks tend to propagate with a
speed that is equal to the wear rate and apparently the crack depth
remains constant.
For wheelset 1 (Superloss) it is found that the depth at
which crack propagation equals the wear rate is less than for
wheelset 2 (ER8). Hence, the crack depth should be expected to
be less in a wheel made from Superlos s than in one made
from ER8.
Once cracks start to generate on the surface, in a first stage
there will be ratcheting (cracks with a very limited depth and
without material detachment). If there is a sufficient wear rate in
334 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337

30.000 eq.km
50.000 eq.km
100.000 eq.km
150.000 eq.km
150.000 eq.km
overall surface
overall surface MT
150.000 eq.km

Fig. 16. Evolution of cuts (3 mm deep on the outer, central and flange side of the tread) from the starting to the ending of the RCF test performed on the second wheelset.

relation to the propagation speed of ratcheting cracks, they will
tend to disappear; if not the ratcheting cracks will propagate more
deeper generating eventually a progressive detachment of metallic
particles (spalling); the result will be that the surface roughness
will increase and consequently the dynamic contact forces, pro-
ducing a detrimental unstable build-up of tread damage. This
condition needs to be prevented by reprofiling the wheel tread
when surface cracks are detected. In Fig. 22 the dotted brown line
identifies the hypothetical crack depth threshold beyond which
ratcheting cracks will transform into spalling.
A justification of the better RCF performance found on the
Superloss wheels compared to the ER8 ones, can be explained first
by the higher cyclic yield strength that identifies the threshold above
which RCF will start to enucleate; secondly by the higher toughness
that will limit the crack growth once enucleated. The mechanical
properties of the two steel grades are summarized in Table 2.
6. The evolution of the sub-surface natural defect
As shown in Fig. 18, before starting the test the natural sub-
surface defect was not visible on the tread surface; after 30.000 eq.
km a change of color was visible probably due to a plastic com-
pression of the surface above the defect. In the following inspec-
tions some cracks started to appear on the surface together with
some pits (small pieces of material falling off).
 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337 335

0 km
30.000 eq.km
50.000 eq.km
100.000 eq.km
150.000 eq.km
150.000 eq.km
MT

Fig. 17. Evolution of spherical indentation from the starting to the ending of the
RCF test performed on the second wheelset.

The UT inspection showed that the extension of the sub-surface

defect actually changed already after 30.000 eq.km: it was found
to become longer in the circumferential direction (from 35 to
52 mm) and slightly shorter in the axial direction (from 30 to
25 mm); the reason of this apparent restriction may be explained
by the fact that the internal crack would tend to propagate
towards the outside with an increased angle to the outer surface;
in this way the ultrasound waves will be deviated without
reflecting back to the probe. UT inspections made after 30.000 eq.
Fig. 18. Evolution of natural sub-surface defect from the starting to the ending of
the RCF test performed on the second wheelset.
km show that no further sub-surface propagation was detected;
the fact that instead new cracks and pits took place afterwards,
shows that the effect of the RCF test on this natural defect was to
336 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337

Cut dept
Wear

0.84 mm 0.66 mm 1.11 mm

No RCF cracks
0 mm

as loads in straight
running are lower

Vertical propagation: 0,72mm Vertical propagation: 1,20mm

1 mm

Vertical propagation: 1,17mm

2 mm

Vertical propagation: 0,26mm

3 mm

Vertical propagation: 0,18mm Vertical propagation: 0,26mm Vertical propagation: 0,23mm

Fig. 19. Cross cut analysis of the 6 cuts and the natural defects at the end of the RCF test performed on the second wheelset.

Fig. 20. Optical examination of the spherical indentation section that shows cracks
very limited in length.

make it propagate towards the nearby outer surface of the tread.

The further continuation of the test would have probably shown Fig. 21. Opening of the natural defect after the end of the RCF test. Typical shelling
an increase of local material detachments. propagation can be observed.
 S. Cantini, S. Cervello / Wear 366-367 (2016) 325–337 337

Table 1 Table 2
Summary of load condition applied during the test and results obtained. Mechanical properties of the two steel grades.

Part I test Part II test Steel Ultimate Elongation (%) Monotonic Cyclic Toughness
tensile yield stress yield MPa m1/2
Wheelset Severity medium high high stress (MPa) stress
1 Superloss Q 100–105 kN 100–120 (170 with (MPa) (MPa)
Y¼ 0) kN
Y 20–30 kN 20–30–60 kN ER8 940 17 590 470 70
g 1,5–2 mrad 1,5–2 mrad Superloss 980 18 640 525 94
eq. km 65.000 km 125.000 km
Resulting Wear þ Elastic Wear þ Plastic
surface shakedown, No new shakedown with 7. Conclusions
RCF cracks new surface cracks
(ratcheting)
Wear rate ¼ / at a depth of A full scale roller rig was used to simulate rolling condition
crack 0,65 mm similar to real severe service conditions and accelerate wear and
propagation RCF type of damage. The results showed the ability of the test rig
to develop equivalent types of surface damage as the ones that are
Wheelset 2 ER8 Severity medium high observed in real service: plastic deformation with no RCF, ratch-
Q 115 kN / eting and spalling.
Y 25–30 kN / The introducing artificial cuts with different depth on the tread
g 1,5–2 mrad /
surface enabled a first estimation of the crack propagation
eq. km 150.000 km /
Resulting Wear þ Plastic / dependence with the depth.
surface shakedown with From Fig. 22 it was possible to estimate the crack depth at
new surface cracks which its propagating speed equals the wear rate and conse-
(ratcheting)
quently the expected maximum natural crack depth. If the depth
Wear rate ¼ at a depth of
crack 1,2 mm
exceeds a critical limit spalling will appear and the surface
propagation roughness will increase generating higher dynamic contact forces
that will further produce larger material detachment arriving at a
detrimental process.
Superloss compared to ER8 shows a higher shakedown limit, a
lower depth at which crack propagation speed equals the
wear rate.
In the presence of ratcheting (depending on the material and
the loading condition), preventive reprofiling (skimming) can be
suggested before spalling starts.
In the presence of a natural sub-surface defect, the test enabled
shelling type propagation that was monitored through UT scans
and MT inspection.
From running safety point of view it was possible to demon-
strate that crack propagation of surface and sub-surface defects are
not critical during the typical reprofiling interval (150.000 km).
The proposed testing method and the results obtained show
the possibility to better compare wheel material steel grades in
realistic conditions and experimentally validate analytical models
for wear and RCF, that today are normally based on small scale
tests that often are difficult to correlate with real service behavior.

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The MT inspection gives a clear image of the external cracks
that were generated from the natural defect.
After the RCF test the natural crack was opened as shown in
Fig. 21 in which a typical shelling propagation can be observed.
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