Basic mechanical properties and ratcheting behaviour of flash butt welds in high strength steel rails

An experimental study consisting of both uniaxial and biaxial stress cycling tests, has been performed on flash butt welds in a heat-treated hypereutectoid steel rail, which is currently used in Australian heavy haul systems. Digital image correlation method was used to capture the heterogeneous strain field and its evolution at every point on the surface of the specimen. The results show that the softened zone with a significant hardness drop is more ductile than the region around the bond line. In addition, the softened zone is more sensitive to plastic deformation and results in higher ratcheting strain than the bond line section. Moreover, the distribution of ratcheting strain can be correlated to the longitudinal hardness profile within the heat-affected zone of the weld. Compared with the parent rail, the softened zone shows much worse ratcheting resistance, while the region around the bond line demonstrates slightly better ratcheting resistance. The outcomes of this study can provide valuable information for further establishing the constitutive models to quantify the heterogeneous ratcheting of rail welds under practical wheel-rail contact situations by finite element simulations.

Media Info

  • Pagination: 10p. ; PDF
  • Monograph Title: Collaborating to master complexity: CORE 2021: conference on railway excellence, 21-23 June 2021, Perth, WA, Australia

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01838314
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: ARRB Group Limited
  • Files: ATRI
  • Created Date: Mar 9 2022 2:21PM