Structural Changes at Metal of a Railway Wheel Along Rolling Surface

ENG: As a result rolling of the hardened carbon steel without slipping, only due to normal loading, a decrease in hardness is observed. The observed decrease in hardness is due to the development of softening processes during plastic deformation. Additional slippage at the contact points of the samples accelerates development of softening effects in the hardened metal. It has been found that softening during rolling of a quenched metal is accompanied by a refinement of the coherent scattering regions, increase in internal stresses, and increase at number of crystal structure defects.