Ferrite-pearlite steel is the most widely used material for railway wheel. However, such wheel steel can not meet the strict demands for rolling contact wear and fatigue resistance with the rising speed and weight of traffic. The aim of this paper is to improve the rolling contact wear and fatigue resistance of wheel steel by laser dispersed treatment. Such treatment creates isolated glazed regions on the surface layer of wheel steel, which are composed of fine martensite and retained autensite and have an avera0ge hardness of 762HV0.3. Compared with the conventional laser surface treatment technologies, such as laser hardening, laser melting, or laser cladding, which have been applied for improving rolling contact wear and fatigue resistance of wheel/rail, the multiple overlapping laser tracks that cause the premature failure are avoided by laser dispersed treatment. The wear rate and rolling contact fatigue life of treated and untreated wheel steel were evaluated and compared by Amsler twin-disc testing machines in dry and lubricated condition, respectively. The test results show that laser dispersed treatment improves the rolling contact wear and fatigue resistance of wheel steel. The stable wear rate of the laser treated wheel steel is about 0.3 times that of untreated wheel disc and the average rolling contact life of treated wheel steel is about double that of the untreated steel. Further investigations show that the glazed regions suppress the plastic deformation of wheel steel. This inhibits the treated wheel steel from delamination wear and delays the formation of fatigue crack initiation.
