Wear of wheel-rail surfaces☆

Abstract The interactions between the tribological stress parameters and the measurable wear quantities during rolling with slip are examined with the help of experimental results already published and the results of some new investigations by the authors of this paper. It is from these that the following model for wear behaviour is derived. 1. (1) The wear quantities (wear volume and mass loss due to wear) are first of all proportional to the frictional work. 2. (2) The factor of proportionality between frictional work and wear volume depends on (a) the structure of the tribological system (material pairing and environment) and (b) the temperature of the contacting surfaces. This temperature is a function of the stress collective, the influence of which may be approximated as the relation of frictional power to contact area, the surface temperature thus governing the transitions between mild and severe wear.