Test and application of 60 kg·m^(−1) bainite rails for heavy-haul railway

Purpose-In order to develop high-strength,high-toughness and high-wear-resistance rails suitable for the development and application of heavy-haul railways.Design/methodology/approach-Based on the trial production of 60 kg·m^(−1) bainite rails,the Zeiss inverted optical microscope,transmission electron microscope and static hydraulic universal tester were used to test the microstructure and property of rail base metal and welded joints.Meanwhile,a trial laying of rails,wing rails of frogs and switch rails for turnouts was performed to systematically analyze their strength,toughness and wear resistance.Findings-The results show that the base metal of 60 kg·m^(−1) bainite rail is of a uniform microstructure,with a carbide-free bainite matrix,a few of stable residual austenite and M/A islands,and it features high hardness,good wear resistance and good strength-toughness balance.The welded joint is of a uniform microstructure and has good properties.Originality/value-A bainite rail,laid in a curve section of heavy-haul railway is able to serve for 48 months with a gross traffic tonnage of nearly 600 million tons,whose service life is more than one time longer than that of pearlite rail;the service life of the wing rail of frog and the switch rail for turnout with 60 kg·m^(−1) bainite rails is 3-4 times longer than that with U75V rails,and no serious damage occurs.The bainite rails also have strong peeling and spalling resistance.

Research and modeling on correlation among microstructure,yield strength and process of bainite/martensite steel

The contributions of different strengthening mechanisms to yield strength of bainite/martensite multiphase rail steel with different finish cooling temperatures in the controlled cooling process were quantitatively investigated.Dislocation density and substructure size of the rail steel were measured by scanning electron microscopy,electron backscatter diffraction and X-ray diffraction.The results show that the dislocation density increases with the decrease in block width in rail steel.Based on the correlation among dislocation density,block width and yield strength,a physical model was proposed to predict the yield strength of rail steel.The variation of block width and dislocation density in different positions of rail head microstructure was integrated with temperature field simulation.Dislocation density and block width reveal significant correlations with the finish cooling temperature.