Abstract
Rail and wheel components undergo sequences of contact during regular usage, from free rolling with limited slip up to braking with excessive slip. We seek to correlate the running conditions (loads and % slip), wear, and microstructural features in the subsurface such that wear of these systems can be better predicted. To this end, an instrumented dual-disk rolling-sliding wear tester was designed and built to test the tread wear of 1060 steel discs under a matrix of steady conditions. Wear was measured using stylus profilometry and photography of the wear tracks, and evolutions of the subsurface microstructure were characterized on cross-sections of the wear track using scanning electron microscopy. Measurements reveal that the instrument applies conditions that lead to repeatable, measureable wear with rates that are consistent with values reported in the literature. In general, the near-surface pearlite is aligned and compressed, with reduced lamellar spacing of cementite. In general, longer running times correlate with increased plasticity and wear.