IF articles

Summary - The report describes the properties of a new steel grade family for forged-rolled solid wheels alternative to AAR Class B/C/D steel grades, designed to increase the re- sistance to wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) also in presence of sand and other solid contaminants. The study of the effects of the solid contaminants at the wheel-rail in- terface has been carried out by means of metallurgical in- vestigations on full scale wheels tested in deserts, small- scale laboratory experiments by a bi-disc rig and Finite Ele- ment analysies (FEM). As a result, a micro-alloyed steel grade family named SANDLOS®, suited for forged and rolled wheels, has been designed and developed, character- ized by higher values of Cyclic Yield Strength with respect to the average values of the corresponding AAR standards, even in the respect of the same standard. The special char- acterization of the new steel grade family is performed ac- cording to common criteria designed by Lucchini RS; per- formances improvement is obtained through various in- dices/maps allowing the comparison with traditional grade steels.