Fatigue failure of a flash butt welded rail.
Medium carbon steel rails are commonly jointed by means of a flash butt welding procedure. To ensure an adequate service life for the structural component commonly subjected to fatigue loading, a rigorous quality control should be performed, both in welding parameters and in the surface quality of t...
| Autores: | , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2014 |
| País: | Brasil |
| Institución: | Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP) |
| Repositorio: | Repositório Institucional da UFOP |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositorio.ufop.br:123456789/5506 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://www.repositorio.ufop.br/handle/123456789/5506 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mspro.2014.06.306 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Rails Flash butt welding Cracking |
| Sumario: | Medium carbon steel rails are commonly jointed by means of a flash butt welding procedure. To ensure an adequate service life for the structural component commonly subjected to fatigue loading, a rigorous quality control should be performed, both in welding parameters and in the surface quality of the welded joint. This work investigated the cause of a recurrent failure in a railway, with cracking always initiated in the rail in the region of the welded joint. All standard procedures of failure analysis were applied, with a careful assessment of the material characteristics and the fractured surface. It was concluded that fatigue cracks initiated near the weld bead and spread in a brittle mode, leading to premature fracture of the material. An in-depth analysis of the early cracks showed that the surface finishing of the weld bead was not appropriate, generating undesirable stress concentration. A recommendation to change the procedure of surface finishing of welded joint was held, aiming to decrease the number of accidents on the railway line. |
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