Abstract The near-surface regions of rail wheels experience a complex thermo-mechanical loading, which varies along the location tread and causes severe changes to microstructure. Occasionally, brittle white etching layers (WEL) are formed, representing high risk wheel damage. Therefore, we studied depth-evolution surface-near microstructure different being ~ 200,000 km in service. microstructu...

Rolling contact fatigue failure is one of the main damages in railway wheels caused by cyclic rolling with rails. This internal defects such as nonmetallic inclusions or voids and may occur heavy haul freight car wheels. The subsurface crack propagation behaviors are evaluated twin-disc-type tests using test specimens artificial defects. Finite element analyses involving simulated also conducte...