The paper reveals regularities and mechanisms of structure-phase states and properties formation of of differentially hardened 100-m rails of DT 350 category after the passed tonnage of 1411 mln. tons brutto. The formation of highly defective surface layer with nanosize (40–50 nm) grain-subgrain structure of pearlite colonies and submicrocrystal (150–250 nm) structure grains with structure free ferrite is detected. The change of hardness, microhardness, crystal lattice parameter, microdistorsion level, scalar and excess dislocation density on the rails head section are analyzed. The possible mechanisms of cementite plates’ transformation at extremely long-term operation are discussed.
Structure and properties of differentially hardened 100-m rails after long-term operation
