Wear 432–433 (2019) 102894

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

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

Study of sliding wear of the wheel flange - Rail gauge corner contact T
conditions: Comparative between cast and forged steel wheel materials
Leandro Prates Ferreira de Almeidaa,∗, Leandro Entringer Falquetoa, Hélio Goldensteinb,
Antônio Cesar Bozzia, Cherlio Scandiana
a
Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil
b
University of São Paulo, Brazil

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Wheel-rail contact is in the spotlight of Railway Engineering and its specific conditions are highly dependent on
Wheel railroad characteristics, such as load, speed, track design and materials used, among others. To understand wear
Rail mechanisms for typical contact conditions of a railroad with many tight curves, sliding-wear tests were per-
Pin-on-disc formed on pin-on-disc configuration, without lubrication, at various sliding speeds and constant normal load.
Friction
The pins and discs were machined from rail and wheel materials, respectively. The worn volume of the samples
Wear mechanisms
were obtained by optical microscopy and 3D profilometry and the wear mechanisms were analyzed using a
scanning electron microscope. The results indicate a higher friction coefficient for tests at a speed of 0.9 m/s, at
about 0.8, when compared to the values obtained at 0.1 m/s – between 0.5 and 0.6. The wear severity of both
pins and discs were up to four times higher in the tests carried out with a sliding speed of 0.1 m/s. Comparing the
different materials of the discs, the wear of pins and discs were considerably greater in tribosystems with forged
steel discs – about two to three times the wear. The wear mechanisms observed were predominantly of plastic
nature, with occurrence of ploughing and adhesion of oxidized materials on the surface of pins and discs.

1. Introduction
Wheel and rail represents two of the items with the highest main-
tenance costs of a railroad. Therefore, understanding the wear me-
chanisms of wheels and rails and working to increase their service life is
essential for the railway operators.
Depending on the railway vehicle dynamics, the mechanical contact
between wheel and rail changes continuously. On a straight track, the
wheel tread moves over the rail head, characterizing a rolling contact
with some portion of slip. The typical defects in this case are called
rolling contact fatigue, such as spalling, shelling, head checks and
corrugation. In curves, the wheel flange can be in contact with the
gauge corner of the rail head. The tighter these curves are, the greater
the stresses and the sliding motion in the contact are, and also pure
sliding may occur [1,2]. In this case, the most common failure modes
are worn flange, worn rail gauge corner and plastic flow.
Wear tests may be used to simulate wheel and rail contact condi-
tions and to study their wear mechanisms. Bolton and Clayton [3]
verified the existence of three different wear regimes – which were
characterized according to the wear rates and morphologies of debris
and worn surfaces – and correlated them with the wear observed in the
field. Different wear mechanisms, also noticed by other authors [4,5],
allows to plot wear maps related to different wheel-rail contact condi-
tions (contact pressure and sliding speed), for each different material
pairs [1,6]. Besides the operating parameters, such as contact pressure
and sliding speed, other parameters of the tribological system can affect
the wear rates and mechanisms, such as, the metallurgical character-
istics of wheel and rail materials, for example; the interlamellar space of
pearlite, which affects the surface hardness [7–9], and the presence of
other microconstituents besides pearlite [10,11] – and the environ-
mental conditions [12], amongst others.
Twin disc tests simulate the typical contact between the wheel tread
and the rail head, whereas, pin-on-disc tests are useful to obtain values
of contact pressure and sliding speed equivalent to those in existence
when the wheel flange slides over the high rail in a curve track [5]. As
shown on Fig. 1 [13], when comparing existing studies of the wheel
tread-rail head contact (smaller ellipse) with the contact between the
wheel flange and the gauge corner of the rail head (greater ellipse),
there is a lack of study on this subject.
Therefore, the aim of this work is to study the tribological behavior

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: lecoprates@hotmail.com (L. Prates Ferreira de Almeida).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2019.05.009
Received 23 October 2018; Received in revised form 10 May 2019; Accepted 11 May 2019
Available online 18 May 2019
0043-1648/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
L. Prates Ferreira de Almeida, et al. Wear 432–433 (2019) 102894

2.2. Experimental methods

2.2.1. Specimens characterization

To verify the possible influence of the different materials used in
tests, microstructures of the discs and pins were analyzed with an op-
tical microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Vickers
hardness measurements of the pins and discs were taken, with 10 kgf
load and 6 repetitions for each sample.

2.2.2. Pure sliding wear tests

Fig. 1. Graph showing the conditions of the work done with wheel and rail
pairs in terms of the contact pressure and the sliding speed of the tests [13].
usually found in railroads with many small radius curves, by per-
forming pin-on-disc tribotests to simulate the contact conditions of the
wheel flange sliding over the gauge corner of the rail head.
2. Materials and experimental methods
2.1. Materials
Pins and discs were manufactured with rail and wheel materials
respectively. AAR grade class C forged and cast wheels were used to
produce discs [14], while pearlitic steel from a 370 HB rail were used as
pins’ material. Table 1 shows the nominal chemical composition and
hardness of these materials and Fig. 2 shows the regions of the wheels
and rail from where the discs and pins were removed. The ends of the
pins were rounded to 3.975 mm radius, avoiding possible edge effects
and lack of parallelism in pin-on-disc contact.
Pin-on-disc tribological tests, without lubrication, were performed
on a PLINT TE67 tribometer, varying the sliding speed for each pair of
materials – 0.1 m/s and 0.9 m/s. Each test took 3600 s and the normal
load was kept at 24.6 N, in a way to obtain an initial mean contact
pressure of 1.5 GPa. The wear track radius was 28 mm. Tests were
performed at room temperature (22 ± 3 °C), with relative humidity of
55% ± 10%. Debris were collected with an adhesive copper tape, for
further analysis in SEM. Friction coefficient curves were recorded
during the tests, using a properly calibrated load cell. The sampling rate
was 1 Hz.
2.2.3. Wear characterization
The wear volume of the discs were obtained using a tridimensional
surface analyzer (Talysurf CLI 1000, Taylor Hobson). For each disc, 8
uniformly distributed profiles were obtained along the wear track. The
individual scanned cross sectional areas (Ai) of the profiles were used to
calculate the volume of wear (V), by using Eq. (1) [15].
N
i=1
Ai
V=2 R
N (1)
where R is the wear track radius and N is the number of profiles.
For the pins, the wear volumes (Vb) were estimated from wear scar
radius (rb), measured using a stereoscopic microscope, using Eqs. (2)
and (3) [16].
hb = Rb (Rb2 rb2 ) (2)

Table 1
Chemical composition and hardness of disc and pin materials, according to AAR grade class C [14] and data from rail manufacturers, respectively.
SAMPLE Material C [wt%] Mn [wt%] Si [wt%] P [wt%] S [wt%] Cr [wt%] Hardness (HB)

Disc Wheel 0.67–0.77 0.60–0.90 0.15–1.00 < 0.03 0.005–0.040 – 321–363

Pin Rail 0.72–0.82 0.80–1.25 0.10–0.50 < 0.03 < 0.02 < 0.25 370

Fig. 2. Regions of the wheels and rail from where the discs and pins were removed (out of scale). Dimensions in mm.

2
L. Prates Ferreira de Almeida, et al. Wear 432–433 (2019) 102894

Fig. 4. Microstructure of the forged steel disc, revealed with Nital 2% and
obtained by (a) Optical microscopy and (b) SEM, showing the presence of la-
mellar pearlite (LP) and bainite (B), other than the regions with degenerated
pearlite (DP).

Wear mechanisms of the pins, discs and debris were investigated

using SEM and an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS).
The microhardness profiles of the discs were measured at the cross
section to verify the possible influence of the hardening on the wear of
the metal pairs. Six measures in different depths were taken for each
disc with a 50 gf load.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Microstructure

Fig. 3a and b show the micrographs of two different regions of the

Fig. 3. –Microstructure of the cast steel disc. Optical microscope, Nital 2%. (a)
Fine pearlite is the predominant phase; (b) Upper bainite is the predominant
phase and (c) SEM, showing the presence of lamellar pearlite (LP) and bainite
(B).
hb
Vb = (3rb2 + hb2)
6 (3)
where hb is the wear cap height and Rb is the ball radius (in this case,
the radius of the end of the pin).
cast steel disc, which were analyzed with the optical microscope. The
discs presented heterogeneous microstructure, with some regions con-
sisting predominantly with fine pearlite (the darker regions) and others
with upper bainite (the lighter regions), with well-defined morpholo-
gies. On both regions, the presence of these two constituents was ob-
served, but, in different quantities. Fig. 3c shows the presence of la-
mellar pearlite and bainite (obtained by SEM).
The forged steel discs presented a more homogeneous distribution
of their microconstituents, when compared to the cast steel disc, with
fine pearlite colonies interspersed with bainite, ferrite and carbides
aggregates, as shown on Fig. 4a. Fig. 4b (obtained by SEM) shows the

3
L. Prates Ferreira de Almeida, et al.
Fig. 5. Vickers hardness values of pins and discs at 10 kgf.
presence of lamellar pearlite and bainite, and also a region with prin-
ciple of pearlite fragmentation, which indicates the possible presence of
degenerated pearlite, in which ferrite and cementite lamellae orienta-
tion was variable and, according to Furuhara et al. [17], its transfor-
mation occurs at a temperature range at around 500 °C–600 °C in eu-
tectoid or hypoeutectoid steels.
For the pins, the presence of a predominantly pearlite micro-
structure was observed.
Fig. 6. Friction coefficient versus time for the tests conducted at sliding speed of 0.1 m/s. Running-in period time was determined by visual inspection.
Fig. 7. Friction coefficient versus time for the tests conducted at sliding speed of 0.9 m/s. Running-in period time was determined by visual inspection.
4
Wear 432–433 (2019) 102894
3.2. Hardness
Fig. 5 shows Vickers hardness values of pins and discs. The different
materials of the discs presented very similar values, indicating that, the
differences observed during microstructure characterization showed no
significant effect over the hardness of the materials.
3.3. Friction
Figs. 6 and 7 show the friction coefficient in function of time for the
tests performed at sliding speeds of 0.1 m/s and 0.9 m/s, respectively.
For each condition, the superposition curves indicate good repeatability
for the behavior of the friction coefficient. After 1500 s, the friction
coefficient was in a steady state, for each condition. For the sliding
speed of 0.1 m/s, the friction coefficient ranged from 0.5 to 0.7 on the
tests with cast steel discs and between 0.4 and 0.6 for the tests with
forged steel discs after the running-in period. For the sliding speed of
0.9 m/s, on the tests with cast steel discs, the friction coefficient gen-
erally stabilized between 0.7 and 0.9, with, at times, reaching minimum
values of 0.4, whereas on tests with forged steel discs, the friction
coefficient generally ranged at around 0.7 and 0.8, with minimum va-
lues going down to 0.4 and maximum values going up to 0.9.
This large variation of the friction coefficient, especially for the
speed of 0.9 m/s, happened on each test, independent of the material of
L. Prates Ferreira de Almeida, et al.
Fig. 8. Average friction coefficient after the running-in of friction. The error
bars represent minimum and maximum values of the mean friction coefficient,
for each tested condition. Uncertainty for the tests with forged and cast steel
discs; ± 3% of full scale for the tests with v = 0.1 m/s; ± 2% and ± 3% re-
spectively for the tests with v = 0.9 m/s.
Fig. 9. Dimensional wear coefficient (mm³/m.N) of pins and discs versus
sliding speed (m/s). Uncertainty for the tests with forged and cast steel
discs: ± 34% of full scale for the discs tested at the speed of 0.1 m/s (pins: ±
12% and ± 3%, respectively). At the speed of 0.9 m/s: ± 15% and ± 14%
(pins: ± 6% and ± 8%, respectively).
the discs. This probably happens due to the system dynamics. There are
some phenomena that can cause sudden variations in contact force,
such as vibration and stiffness of the system [18]. Blau [19] explains
that external vibrations, that are produced by nearby equipment or the
machine itself, can affect frictional behavior. On the other hand, it can
also be a consequence of frictional interactions – for example, “when
asperity junctions engage and disengage during continuous sliding” –
and it may be intermittent.
Fig. 8 shows the average friction coefficient, after the running-in of
friction, for the different speeds and different materials of the disc.
Table 2
–Comparison between the values obtained for the wear coefficient of the pins and discs.
Sliding speed Disc material Comparison between k of the discs (division by k of the cast
steel disc)
0.1 m/s Cast 1 1
Forged 2.7
0.9 m/s Cast 1 1
Forged 1.8
5
Wear 432–433 (2019) 102894
When the sliding speed increased from 0.1 m/s to 0.9 m/s, the in-
crease in friction coefficient, from 0.5-0.6 to approximately 0.8 prob-
ably occurred due to higher heating of the pins and discs at the aspe-
rities’ contact area, followed by a decrease of the mechanical strength of
the steels, favoring junction growth and consequently, increasing the
real contact area. With the increase of temperature, there is also a
tendency of greater oxidation of the surfaces in contact, which would
tend to decrease the friction coefficient, taking place a competition
between these two phenomena. Probably, in these tests, junction
growth was more significant than the oxidation, with respect to the
value of the friction. The results of friction coefficients, for both sliding
speeds, were typical of the contact between two metallic surfaces.
For the sliding speed of 0.9 m/s, the tests with cast and forged steel
discs presented very similar results for the average friction coefficient.
At the speed of 0.1 m/s, the values of the average friction coefficient
were close, with a tendency of lower values for the tests with forged
steel discs.
3.4. Wear
Dimensional wear coefficient (k) results for pins and discs are shown
in Fig. 9. The coefficients magnitude order was in accordance with
previous results reported for pin-on-disc tests under similar conditions
[1,5,7].
In the current study, pins' wear was influenced by the disc's mate-
rial. Differing from Bolton and Clayton [3] results for the twin disc tests,
in which the change of body material did not reflect on a significant
change at the wear rate of the counter-body.
Pins and discs had a very similar behavior with regards to wear,
which was higher for the tests with forged steel discs. This difference
was more significant for the sliding speed of 0.1 m/s than 0.9 m/s.
Table 2 presents the comparison between the values obtained for
the wear coefficient of pins and discs at the tribosystems with cast and
forged steel discs. This difference was most pronounced at the speed of
0.1 m/s, with pins' and discs’ wear approximately 3 times higher for the
forged steel discs tests. At the speed of 0.9 m/s, the tribosystems with
forged steel discs presented an 80% greater wear for both the pins and
the discs.
As previously mentioned, both cast and forged steel discs presented
similar hardness values, discarding the influence of hardness on the
greater wear severity for the tribosystems with forged steel discs.
Therefore, a probable cause for this wear difference may be the pre-
sence of distinct microstructures observed in the cast and the forged
steel discs. The coarser and heterogeneous microstructure present in the
cast steel discs could have favored the increase of the wear resistance
for that particular tribosystem. Also, the presence of degenerated
pearlite in the forged steel disc probably promoted a higher wear rate
on the tested conditions.
The wear coefficients of pins and discs were also influenced by the
different sliding speeds. At the speed of 0.1 m/s, the wear severity was
higher than at the speed of 0.9 m/s for both tests with cast and forged
steel discs. For the tribosystems with cast steel discs, the wear coeffi-
cient at the sliding speed of 0.1 m/s was between 2 and 3 times higher
for both pins and discs, comparing to the speed of 0.9 m/s. But, for the
tribosystems with forged steel discs, the wear coefficient was close to 4
times more severe at the speed of 0.1 m/s.
Comparison between k of the pins (division by k of the tribosystem with the cast
steel disc)
3.1
1.8
L. Prates Ferreira de Almeida, et al.
Fig. 10. SEM micrographs of a cast steel disc's wear track, tested at a sliding
speed of 0.1 m/s – (a) Wear track with protuberances plastically deformed
(ellipse) and oxidized material adhered to the surface (yellow arrows); (b)
detail of the protuberances plastically deformed. Black arrows indicate the
sliding direction. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure
legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
Fig. 11. Scheme of the pin's and disc's plastic wear mechanisms. ‘P’ represents a
protuberance, ‘W’ represents the load weight's vector and ‘V’ represents the
velocity's vector.
6
Wear 432–433 (2019) 102894
Fig. 12. SEM micrographs of a forged steel disc's wear track, tested at a sliding
speed of 0.9 m/s.
The probable cause of the lower severity of pin's and disc's wear for
the tests with sliding speed of 0.9 m/s was the higher oxidation, favored
by the instantaneous temperature increase on the asperities that were in
contact. Similar results had also been observed by Olofsson and
Telliskivi [5] after pin-on-disc tests with rail's and wheel's materials
similar to those herein used and for a nominal contact pressure of
0.8 GPa.
Olofsson and Telliskivi observed lower friction coefficients for tri-
bosystems with lower wear coefficients, suggesting the presence of a
dominant oxidative wear regime. However, on this paper, friction
coefficients were higher for the tests with lower wear coefficients, at the
sliding speed of 0.9 m/s, indicating that a possible oxidation was not
dominant for the friction. Possibly, there was a competition between
the different mechanisms of wear: oxidative regime, due to the higher
oxidation rate of the steel on the interface with high temperatures and
the plastic adhesion mechanisms, because of the decreasing of the
mechanical resistance at these temperatures.
Fig. 13. SEM micrograph showing oxidized debris (dark regions) near to small
grooving marks (yellow arrows). (For interpretation of the references to color in
this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
L. Prates Ferreira de Almeida, et al.
Fig. 14. SEM micrograph of a forged steel disc's wear track, tested at a sliding speed of 0.1 m/s – details of the regions with oxidized debris adhered to the surface and
spectra of the EDS analysis. Black arrow indicates the sliding direction.
3.5. Wear mechanisms
Figs. 10, 12 and 13 show the SEM typical micrographs of the disc's
wear tracks. On each test, plastic mechanisms dominated the wear.
Ploughing, grooving and material adhesion, usually oxidized, were
observed on the contact surfaces. Fig. 10 shows protuberances formed
on the surface of the material, subsequently, they were plastically de-
formed due to the high contact stresses, leading to a material dis-
placement to the sides. When the plastic deformation capability's limit
7
Wear 432–433 (2019) 102894
is achieved, the particles are removed by fatigue. Fig. 11 illustrates this
mechanism schematically.
Fig. 12 shows the adhesion marks observed on the pin's and on the
disc's surfaces, for each tested condition. They are similar to those ob-
served by Viáfara et al. [10].
Regions with material adhered to the surface were also observed in
detail. The particles removed from the tribosurfaces were highly de-
formed and had a high specific surface area, which was favorable for its
quick oxidation. These oxidized particles adhere to the disc's surface
L. Prates Ferreira de Almeida, et al.
Fig. 15. SEM micrographs showing the worn surfaces of the pins tested at the following conditions: (a) v = 0.1 m/s, cast steel disc; (b) v = 0.9 m/s, cast steel disc; (c)
v = 0.1 m/s, forged steel disc and (d) v = 0.9 m/s, forged steel disc. Arrows indicate the sliding direction.
Fig. 16. SEM micrographs showing oxidized debris and a metallic flake about to
be removed from the surface of a pin tested with a forged steel disc, at a sliding
speed of 0.9 m/s. Arrow indicates the sliding direction.
and can cause micro abrasive events, as shown on Fig. 13. According to
Jiang et al. [20,21] and Stott [22], a great part of debris is kept on the
rubbing interface, being subjected to detachment and comminution.
Part of these debris clump together and adhere to the surface, especially
on grooves or scratches. With continuous sliding, particles are deformed
and compacted and which can be removed from the worn surface,
acting like a third body particle, or it can be retained, leading to a
8
Wear 432–433 (2019) 102894
development of layers of particles.
The oxidation of the debris was first evidenced by the occurrence of
cracks in the material (more fragile) and its darker coloration, which
demonstrates the presence of elements with lower atomic number, as
the oxygen, especially when a BSD signal is used. EDS analysis of debris
and discs confirmed the oxidation of the particles adhered on to the
rubbing surfaces. Fig. 14 shows details of a forged steel disc's surface,
tested at 0.1 m/s, with oxidized debris adhered to its surface, in addition
to the EDS results of both regions. It's possible to notice the presence of
oxygen on the dark regions (with adhered particles) and its absence on
the lighter regions (without adhering particles). The same observations
were made on the other tested conditions.
All pins presented grooves, as observed by Danks e Clayton [4].
However, for the sliding speed of 0.1 m/s, both in cast and forged steel
disc tests, there was a higher incidence of material adhesion on the pins
than on the tests at a speed of 0.9 m/s. As with the discs, the metallic
debris were oxidized with the continuity of the tests and remained ad-
hered to the surface of the pins, similar to the observations of Viáfara
et al. [10] and Zhu et al. [12].
Fig. 15 shows images obtained by SEM analysis that illustrates the
difference in the amount of material adhered to the pins, identified by
the darker areas and quantified with the use of the public domain
software ImageJ, for both sliding speeds. Tests with cast steel discs at
the speeds of 0.1 m/s and 0.9 m/s had 14.9% and 7.6% of the pin's scar
area covered with adhered debris, respectively. For the tests with forged
steel discs, the covered areas with debris were 9.2% and 4.2%, at the
speeds of 0.1 m/s and 0.9 m/s respectively. Longer and thicker mate-
rials, and proportionally in larger quantity were observed on the pins
tested at a sliding speed of 0.1 m/s, which suggests that the higher
L. Prates Ferreira de Almeida, et al.
Fig. 17. SEM images of the wear debris.
Fig. 18. Examination of the forged steel disc cross-section, with the measured
depths of the hardening.
severity of the wear at this speed really occurred because of a more
pronounced adhesion mechanism.
The wear mechanisms acting on the pins were the same of the discs.
Fig. 16 shows a SEM micrograph of a pin tested with a forged steel disc
at a sliding speed of 0.9 m/s. A presence of an oxidized wear particle
next to a metallic flake about to be removed from the surface is noticed,
evidencing the detachment and comminution mechanisms.
9
Wear 432–433 (2019) 102894
3.5.1. Debris
Fig. 17 shows some images of the generated debris. Debris with a
large size variation were observed for each tested condition. It was
possible to identify large particles 50–250 μm in size, with rough sur-
faces, but also small debris in abundance, less than 5 μm in size and with
very irregular shapes. Some regions with several agglomerated debris
were observed (Fig. 17b), forming flakes with higher dimensions, in-
dicating that the particles were retained at the rubbing interface during
the tests.
These results were similar to those presented by Bolton and Clayton
[3] and Ma et al. [23] for types II and III wear regimes (severe and
catastrophic), suggesting that they are the typical wear regimes for the
wheel flange - gauge corner of the rail head contact conditions.
From debris observation, it was suggested that the wear mode of the
pins and discs tested on this paper was probably at the severe-cata-
strophic transition. The similar characteristics of the wear particles for
each tested conditions and the relatively close wear volumes (wear
coefficients at the same order of magnitude) indicate that in each test
the wear regime was the same. The results were consistent with the
wear maps presented by Lewis e Olofsson [1]. In each case, the sliding
speed of 0.1 m/s was associated to a regime between severe and cata-
strophic wear modes (types II and III), independent of the contact
pressure. For the speed of 0.9 m/s, there was a trend of decreasing se-
verity when compared to 0.1 m/s.
Based on the work of Lewis and Olofsson [1], it's to be expected that
the catastrophic regime of wear occurs in some range between the
sliding speeds of 0.1 m/s and 0.9 m/s, also for the materials and load
used at the current work. Thus, it is possible to affirm that the mild
wear regime is not expected for the typical contact conditions of a
railroad with many tight curves.
3.6. Examination of the influence of disc's hardening over the wear
Microhardness measurements were taken on the cross sections of
the cast and forged steel discs, starting at 10 μm from the worn surface.
The observed values were kept below 450 HV0,05, differing from Viáfara
et al. [10] observations, that obtained values between 500 and 800
HV0,05. Therefore, there was little or no incidence of hardening at the
measured depths, indicating lack of relevancy of this factor for the
different wear levels described. Fig. 18 shows the microstructure of the
worn sub-surface of a forged steel disc, tested at 0.9 m/s. It could be
observed that the plastic deformations did not occur after 12 μm from
the surface. The same trends were observed on each tested condition.
4. Conclusions
The tests performed with cast and forged steel discs presented close
results to the friction coefficient, with a tendency of lesser friction on
the forged steel discs. These values were significantly higher for the
tests with sliding speed of 0.9 m/s, around 0.8, whereas, in the tests
with speed of 0.1 m/s the friction coefficient varied between 0.5 and
0.6, for forged and cast steel discs, respectively.
The wear severity was higher in systems with forged steel discs than
in cast steel discs, both for the pins and for the discs themselves.
Probably, this difference occurred due to the distinct microconstituents
observed on the cast and the forged steel discs, where the presence of
degenerated pearlite was observed. Understanding the influence of the
microstructure is important for railway operators, in order to improve
wheel and rail life and also to reduce maintenance costs. This difference
was even more accentuated at the speed of 0.1 m/s.
The dominant wear mechanisms of pins and discs were: adhesion,
material transfer and debris oxidation, to a greater or lesser degree, for
each condition tested.
For tests with sliding speed of 0.1 m/s, there was a higher incidence
of debris adhered to the surfaces of pins and discs than on the tests at a
speed of 0.9 m/s, which proves the higher wear severity for the first
L. Prates Ferreira de Almeida, et al. Wear 432–433 (2019) 102894

case.
The large size variation of debris and its rough surfaces suggest that
the wear regime was included in the severe-catastrophic transition.
Therefore, this should be the typical wear regime for railroads with
many small radius curves, unless the railway operators act to reduce the
contact between the wheel flange and the gauge corner of the rail head
by using: rail lubrication, radial bogies, etc.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the support of Vale S.A. (Cátedra Roda-
Trilho Program).
References
[1] R. Lewis, U. Olofsson, Mapping rail wear regimes and transitions, Wear 257 (2004)
721–729.
[2] R. Lewis, U. Olofsson, Basic Tribology of the Wheel-Rail Contact. Wheel-Rail
Interface Handbook, 1st ed., (2009), pp. 34–57.
[3] P.J. Bolton, P. Clayton, Rolling-sliding wear damage in rail and tyre steels, Wear 93
(1984) 145–165.
[4] D. Danks, P. Clayton, Comparison of the wear process for eutectoid rail steels: Field
and laboratory tests, Wear 120 (1987) 233–250.
[5] U. Olofsson, T. Telliskivi, Wear, plastic deformation and friction of two rail steels - a
full-scale test and laboratory study, Wear 254 (2003) 80–93.
[6] H.H. Ding, C.G. He, L. Ma, J. Guo, Q.Y. Liu, W.J. Wang, Wear mapping and tran-
sitions in wheel and rail materials under different contact pressure and sliding
velocity conditions, Wear 352–353 (2016) 1–8.
[7] Alberto J. Perez-Unzueta, John H. Beynon, Microstructure and wear resistance of
pearlitic rail steels, Wear 162–164 (1993) 173–182.
[8] U.P. Singh, Ramakant Singh, Wear investigation of wheel and rail steels under
conditions of sliding and rolling-sliding contact with particular regard to micro-
structural parameters, Wear 170 (1993) 93–99.
[9] Ana Paula Gonçalves Chaves, Railway wheels: analysis, microstructure and im-
provement proposals. São Paulo – SP. University of São Paulo, 2017 Master Thesis.
[10] C.C. Viáfara, M.I. Castro, J.M. Vélez, A. Toro, Unlubricated sliding wear of pearlitic
and bainitic steels, Wear 259 (2005) 405–411.
[11] Ki Myung Lee, Andreas A. Polycarpou, Wear of conventional pearlitic and improved
bainitic rail steels, Wear 259 (2005) 391–399.
[12] Y. Zhu, Y. Lyu, U. Olofsson, Mapping the friction between railway wheels and rails
focusing on environmental conditions, Wear 324–325 (2015) 122–128.
[13] Jon Sundh, Ulf Olofsson, Krister Sundvall, Seizure and wear rate testing of wheel-
rail contacts under lubricated conditions using pin-on-disc methodology, Wear 265
(2008) 1425–1430.
[14] AAR – Association of American Railroad M-107/M-208, Manual of Standards and
Recommended Practices Wheels and Axles - Section G, (2014) Washington.
[15] R.S. Colbert, B.A. Krick, A.C. Dunn, J.R. Vail, N. Argibay, W.G. Sawyer, Uncertainty
in pin-on-disk wear volume measurements using surface scanning techniques,
Tribol. Lett. 42 (2011) 129–131.
[16] ASTM G99, Standard Test Method for Wear Testing with a Pin-On-Disk Apparatus,
(2010).
[17] T. Furuhara, T. Moritani, K. Sakamoto, T. Maki, Substructure and crystallography of
degenerate pearlite in an Fe-C binary alloy, Mater. Sci. Forum 539–543 (2007)
4832–4837.
[18] Gwidon W. Stachowiak, Andrew W. Batchelor, Grazyna B. Stachowiak,
Experimental Methods in Tribology. Tribology Series vol. 44, Elsevier, 2004.
[19] Peter J. Blau, Friction Science and Technology: From Concepts to Applications, 2nd
ed., CRC Press – Taylor & Francis Group, 2008.
[20] Jiaren Jiang, F.H. Stott, M.M. Stack, A mathematical model for sliding wear of
metals at elevated temperatures, Wear 181–183 (1995) 20–31.
[21] Jiaren Jiang, F.H. Stott, M.M. Stack, The role of triboparticulates in dry sliding
wear, Tribol. Int. 31 (5) (1998) 245–256.
[22] F.H. Stott, High-temperature sliding wear of metals, Tribol. Int. 35 (2002) 489–495.
[23] L. Ma, C.G. He, X.J. Zhao, J. Guo, Y. Zhu, W.J. Wang, Q.Y. Liu, X.S. Jin, Study on
wear and rolling contact fatigue behaviors of wheel/rail materials under different
slip ratio conditions, Wear 366–367 (2016) 13–26.

10