Overview of Pearlitic Rail Steel: Accelerated Cooling, Quenching, Microstructure, and Mechanical Properties

2010 ◽  
pp. 692-692-36
Author(s):  
Satyam S. Sahay ◽  
Goutam Mohapatra ◽  
George E. Totten
Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khan ◽  
Yu ◽  
Wang ◽  
Jiang

The effect of cooling rate, ranging from 6 to 1 °C/s, on microstructure and mechanical properties in the coarse-grained heat affected zone (CGHAZ) of electroslag welded pearlitic rail steel has been investigated by using confocal scanning laser microcopy (CSLM) and Gleeble 3500 thermo-mechanical simulator. During heating, the formed austenite was inhomogeneous with fractions of untransformed ferrite, which has influenced the pearlite transformation during cooling by providing additional nucleation sites to pearlite. During cooling, at 6 °C/s, the microstructure was composed of martensite and bainite with little pearlite. From 4 to 1 °C/s, microstructures were completely pearlite. Lowering the cooling rate of the CGHAZ from 4 to 1 °C/s increased the pearlite start temperature and reduced the pearlite growth rate. Meanwhile, this increase in pearlite start temperature enlarged the pearlite interlamellar spacing. Alternatively, increasing pearlite interlamellar spacing in the CGHAZ by lowering the cooling rate from 6 to 1 °C/s reduced the hardness and tensile strength, whereas toughness was found unaffected by the pearlite interlamellar spacing. It has been found that a cooling rate of 4 °C/s leads to the formation of pearlite with fine interlamellar spacing of 117 nm in the CGHAZ of electroslag welded pearlitic rail steel where hardness is 425 HV, tensile strength is 1077 MPa, and toughness is 9.1 J.


2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
pp. 1095-1102
Author(s):  
Gustavo Tressia ◽  
Luis H.D. Alves ◽  
Amilton Sinatora ◽  
Helio Goldenstein ◽  
Mohammad Masoumi

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop a lower bainite structure consists of a dispersion of fine carbide inside plates of bainitic ferrite from chemical composition unmodified conventional pearlitic steel under bainitic transformation and to investigate its effect on tensile properties and wear resistance. Design/methodology/approach A commercial hypereutectoid pearlitic rail steel was subjected to three different bainitic transformation treatments followed by tempering to develop a desirable microstructure with a DIL805 BÄHR dilatometer. A comprehensive microstructural study was performed by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. Finally, the mechanical properties and wear resistance were evaluated by tensile, microhardness, and pin-on-disc tests. Findings The results showed that the best combination of mechanical properties and sliding wear resistance was obtained in the sample subjected to bainitic transformation at 300°C for 600 s followed by tempering at 400°C for 300 s. This sample, which contained a bainitic ferrite structure, exhibited approximately 20% higher hardness and approximately 53% less mass loss than the as-received pearlitic sample due to the mechanically induced transformation in the contact surface. Originality/value Although pearlitic steel is widely used in the construction of railways, recent studies have revealed that bainitic transformation at the same rail steels exhibited higher wear resistance and fatigue strengths than conventional pearlitic rail at the same hardness values. Such a bainitic microstructure can improve the mechanical properties and wear resistance, which is a great interest in the railway industry. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2019-0282/


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Lian Gong ◽  
Hui Liu ◽  
Cheng Lv ◽  
Lijun Zhao

A new welding method, ultranarrow gap welding with constrained arc by flux band, is proposed to compensate for the low quality of rail thermite welded joints. This article presents the results of research on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ultranarrow gap welded joints of U71Mn rail steel made using three types of alloying composition content flux bands. Results indicated that the base metal metallographic microstructure consisted mainly of pearlitic, the HAZ was mainly composed of fine pearlite, and the microstructure of the welded bead was composed of acicular ferrite, while the weld grain size decreased as the alloy composition increased. The average hardness noticeably changed in weld metal as the alloy composition increased, and when the alloy composition reached 19%, the hardness was equivalent to the base material. The average hardness value of the HAZ (35.8 HRC) was higher than that of the base metal (24.8 HRC). The tensile strength increased, and the percentage elongation after fracture decreased with increasing alloying composition from 9% to 19%. The impact absorbing energies were decreased as the alloying composition increased. Consequently, all the mechanical properties of rail ultranarrow gap welding were higher than those of the standard requirements of the rail flash welding. And the optimal alloying composition of flux band was 19%.


2013 ◽  
Vol 762 ◽  
pp. 116-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry F. Sokolov ◽  
Alexey A. Ogoltcov ◽  
Alexander A. Vasilyev ◽  
N.G. Kolbasnikov ◽  
S.F. Sokolov

An integral mathematical physically based model is developed for prediction of the microstructure and mechanical properties of steels processed in accordance with a given hot deformation and accelerated cooling regimes. The model predicts austenite microstructure evolution under hot deformation, as well as its transformation during subsequent cooling with account of formation of ferrite, pearlite, bainite and martensite. Structure-property relationships are developed using an extensive experimental database chemical composition - microstructure - mechanical properties obtained for 10 steel grades. Austenite transformation depending on grain size, cooling rate and preliminary plastic deformation was investigated with the help of Gleeble 3800 system to obtain a set of practically important morphologically different microstructures for each steel grade. A quantitative analysis of the microstructures was performed using optical and scanning electron microscopy (EBSD-method). Investigation of the mechanical properties of steels with wide spectrum of obtained microstructures was carried out on the double-samples processed using Gleeble 3800. The predicted microstructure parameters for investigated steels obtained using the developed model, as well as their mechanical properties, are in good agreement with the experimental data.


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