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

Progress in the continuing study of the causes of shelly spots and head checks was reported. The performances of various installations of heat-treated and alloy-steel rail have been tabulated. Appendix 8-a presented rolling-load tests of heat-treated chrome-vanadium rail, high-silicon rails, and 140-lb. chrome-vanadium alloy rail. Examination of shelly rails from service and rolling-load tests to produce detail fractures in the laboratory were discussed. One specimen of chrome-vanadium rail, heat-treated to 490 Brinell hardness, ran 21 million cycles in a rolling-load test. Ten specimens of high-silicon rails averaged 2,307,000 cycles in rolling- load tests. Two specimens of 140-lb. chrome-vanadium alloy rail averaged 3,625,000 rolling-load cycles. Photographs of one shelling crack in a service rail indicate the crack started at a segregation streak in the rail. All rolling-load tests to produce shelling indicate that rails with higher hardness, with corresponding increase in mechanical strength, give longer laboratory rolling-load tests.

• Corporate Authors:

  American Railway Engineering Association

  59 East Van Buren Street
  Chicago, IL  United States  60605
• Publication Date: 1955

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 951-959
• Serial:
  • AREA BULLETIN
  • Volume: 56
  • Publisher: American Railway Engineering Association

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alloy steel; Heat treated rail; Load tests; Railroad rails; Shelling (Metals)
• Old TRIS Terms: Head checks; Rail shelling
• Subject Areas: Materials; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00052410
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Association of American Railroads
• Report/Paper Numbers: Proceeding
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 15 1976 12:00AM