Effect of laser quenching on wear and damage of heavy-haul wheel/rail materials

In order to alleviate the wear of heavy-haul wheel/rail materials, the wear experiments of wheel/rail rollers undergoing laser quenching were carried out using rolling-sliding testing apparatus. The results indicate that laser quenching produces a hard martensite layer with a certain depth. The improvement of wear resistance of materials resulting from laser quenching markedly decreases the wear volume of wheel/rail rollers. The maximal decrease rate of wear volume of wheel and rail materials is about 92.9% and 89.5%, respectively. Furthermore, the worn surfaces of wheel/rail rollers present different surface morphology and damage mechanisms due to difference of hardness matching. When the surface hardness of wheel/rail rollers undergoing laser quenching is high, the spalling damage and adhesion wear are dominating. When a single wheel or rail roller undergoes laser quenching, the damage mechanism of wheel and rail rollers are significantly different. According to the severe wear region of the heavy-haul wheel/rail, it is proposed that the rail side and wheel flange may undergo laser quenching treatment for alleviating wear of heavy-haul wheel/rail materials. However, further work should be carried out for clarifying the fatigue characteristic of wheel/rail with laser quenching.