THE FRACTURE PROPERTIES OF TWO FAILED CAST STEEL WHEELS FROM THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD

During the late autumn of 1972 the Union Pacific Railroad had what appeared to be an unusually high number of wheel failures associated with low ambient temperatures. This behavior suggested to the Union Pacific that the temperature may have dropped below the materials transition temperature. In this connection the AAR was requested to determine the fracture properties of two cast steel wheels which failed during low temperature conditions (less than 35 F). On the basis of both the Charpy and critical stress intensity factor tests both wheels did not significantly change their fracture characteristics over the entire range of operating temperatures.

• Corporate Authors:

  Association of American Railroads Research Center

  3140 South Federal Street
  Chicago, IL  United States  60616
• Authors:
  • Stone, D H
• Publication Date: 1973-5

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 10 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Casting; Cold weather; Failure; Fracture mechanics; Operations; Steel; Stresses; Wheels
• Old TRIS Terms: Wheel failure
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Railroads; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00080118
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Association of American Railroads
• Report/Paper Numbers: R-123
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 16 1976 12:00AM