CAUSES OF SHELLY SPOTS AND HEAD CHECKS IN RAIL-METHODS FOR THEIR PREVENTION

Most of the information in this report on causes of shelly spots and head checks in rail is contained in the two appendices. Appendix 8a covers inspections of service test of heat-treated and alloy steel rail installations at five locations. There are three tests of heat-treated rail and two of high-silicon rail. Heat-treated rail in tests on the Norfolk & Western Railway continues to show increased life over standard rail. High-silicon have shown greater resistance to the detrimental effects of heavy wheel loads in the low side of curves than standard rails. Appendix 8b contains studies done at the University of Illinois. Three rolling-load tests to produce shelling in high-silicon rails, standard carbon-steel rails and 50-kg rails induction hardened in Japan are presented and discussed. Two rolling-load tests on a high-silicon rail ran 1,944,400 and 1,480,000 cycles. A standard-carbon-steel rail gave unusually long tests of 4,347,000 and 4,371,000 cycles. These specimens deformed considerably before the shelling cracks were visible on the side of the headrail. Two induction-hardened 50-kg rails from Japan gave rolling-load tests of 577,400 and 718,300 cycles.

• Corporate Authors:

  American Railway Engineering Association

  59 East Van Buren Street
  Chicago, IL  United States  60605
• Publication Date: 1960

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 869-881
• Serial:
  • AREA BULLETIN
  • Volume: 61
  • Publisher: American Railway Engineering Association

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alloy steel; Heat treated rail; Load tests; Metal hardening; Rail steel; Railroad rails; Shelling (Metals)
• Old TRIS Terms: Induction hardening; Rail metallurgy; Rail shelling
• Subject Areas: Construction; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00052352
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Association of American Railroads
• Report/Paper Numbers: Proceeding
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 15 1976 12:00AM