• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.13-18
• /
• 2016

KTX wheelset bearings have thus far been maintained in accordance with the maintenance system of French national railway company, SNCF. The overhaul cycle time (OCT) of KTX wheelset bearings is now 1.4 million km in mileage. This value, however, has not been validated in Korea that has much different railway environments with France. In fact, it is impossible to validate OCT of wheelset bearings directly because they are disassembled and cleaned only when some faults are detected. In this paper, the accuracy of the current OCT value was evaluated indirectly by investigating the effect of grease lubricants on the bearing life. Five grease samples (one new and four aged greases) were used in this study. Four aged greases of different conditions were obtained from four wheelset bearings whose mileages were about 0.3, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.8 million km, respectively. Each grease sample was then injected into the RCF (Rolling Contact Fatigue) tester and fatigue lifetime was experimentally estimated. In addition, the wt% of Fe in each grease sample was analysed. The experiment results reveal that the bearing lifetime is inversely proportional to the mileage of grease sample while the wt% of Fe increases with the mileage of grease sample. Based on the experimental results, it can be concluded that the current OCT value is appropriate for the first overhaul of wheelset bearings. However, further validation is required to determine the second and third OCT values.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.141-146
• /
• 2012

The rail surface defects which are generated on repeated rolling contact fatigue are getting increased according to high speed, high density, and minimum weight. In addition, Increasing noise and vibration are affected by these also impact load generated as well. Because of this phenomenon, more serious and critical damages were occurred. In fact, in order to control them, the rail grinding amount in Korea. This study evaluated how depth of hardening on rail surface is formed and suggested optimal rail grinding amount by RCF(rolling contact fatigue) test with generated contact pressure between KTX wheel and UIC60 rail by applying FEM analysis. Therefore, the amount was generated approximately 0.2mm/20MGT to maintain integrity of rail surface by getting rid of depth of hardening on rail according to rail accumulated passing tonnage.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.237-243
• /
• 2019

Through this study, we investigate the effects of ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification (UNSM) technology on the fatigue life of needle roller bearings. The fatigue life of untreated and UNSM-treated needle roller bearings is evaluated using a roller fatigue tester at various contact stress levels under oil-lubricated conditions. We can ascertain that the fatigue life of an UNSM-treated needle roller bearing was extended by approximately 34.3% in comparison with an untreated one, where the effectiveness of UNSM technology diminishes with increasing contact stress. The surface roughness and surface hardness of needle roller bearings before and after being treated by UNSM technology are compared and discussed to understand the role of UNSM technology in improving the fatigue life of needle roller bearings. In addition, a fractograph of the damaged bearings is observed using a scanning electron microscopy to shed light on the fracture mechanisms of bearings under different contact stress levels. We can therefore conclude that the application of UNSM technology to the needle roller bearings improves the fatigue life by reducing the friction coefficient and increasing the wear resistance; this may be attributed to a reduction in surface roughness from 0.5 to $0.149{\mu}m$ and an increase in surface hardness from 58 to 62 HRc.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.512-520
• /
• 2017

On a typical railway, trains travel using the friction between the wheel and the rail. Contact pressure is generated between the wheel and the rail, and the magnitude of the contact pressure changes depending on the weight, speed, wheel-set hunting, and contact point of the vehicle. In this study, the contact characteristics were analyzed through the finite element analysis for the wheel/rail system on curved track, and fatigue damage and wear rate of wheel/rail according to contact pressure were analyzed through rolling contact fatigue test. Results indicate that, general and heat treated rails showed higher wear rate than wheels, and general and heat treated rail wear rate increased rapidly over a certain number of repetitions. In addition, the general rail wear rate was about 7 ~ 15% higher than that of the heat treated rail, and a regression equation for the rail wear rate with the contact pressure in the contact pressure range of 900 ~ 1,500 MPa was presented.

• International Journal of Railway
• /
• v.1 no.3
• /
• pp.83-88
• /
• 2008

Since the 1990's the fleet of the Dutch Railways showed a dramatic decrease in wheel tyre life. This lifetime reduction led to an unacceptable increase in life cycle costs. Therefore Lloyd's Register Rail has proposed to NedTrain to investigate the possibilities of improving the wheel tyre life. Three improvements were determined as most promising and relatively easy to achieve: - Profile optimisation for Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) reduction - a new wheel profile has been developed with a better resistance against rolling contact fatigue of the wheel tread. The profile has been implemented on single deck intercity trains and shows an increase in wheel tyre life of 30%. - Selection of improved wheel tyre materials - combining information from literature and experiences of manufacturers five alternative wheel tyre materials have been selected and are now being tested in practice. - Optimisation of the maintenance strategy - an alternative, preventative maintenance regime has been developed. With this Scraping regime, during short term maintenance every wheel is reprofiled. Higher mileages are reached and savings on life cycle costs up to 50% and more have been achieved. Unplanned maintenance goes down with $30{\sim}60%$. The results from field tests, using a reference group for comparison, and preliminary results after implementation show that the increase in wheel tyre life that is achieved with this project is significant. The results will continue to be monitored using the asset management tool 'Wheel Watch', that was specially developed for this project and is also described in this paper.

• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.350-355
• /
• 2014

This study proposes a sustainable bearing remanufacturing process using the ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification (UNSM) technique. The UNSM technique is a newly developed and sophisticated surface modification technique that can increase the mechanical properties and improve the friction and wear performance of materials. Taking advantage of the bearing manufacturing process is the most significant way of optimizing the life of a bearing. The proper maintenance and usage of repaired bearings can increase their life to be equal to or greater than that of new bearings. This paper discusses the restoration of certain mechanical properties of worn, damaged, and discarded bearings, and suggests a remanufacturing process for used bearings, which can impart them with a lifespan equivalent to that of new bearings. The most damaged part of the discarded bearings is the raceway, which is the site of accumulated fatigue. The existing polishing or barrel finishing processes can recover the accumulated fatigue only partially. Rolling contact fatigue tests performed on UNSM-treated new and used specimens polished after $4{\times}10^6$ cycles reveal that UNSM-treated new specimens exhibit the longest fatigue life compared to other specimens. This study verifies the proposed complete fatigue recovery process, which can increase the fatigue life of used bearings to a level greater than that of new bearings.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
• /
• 2011.10a
• /
• pp.2153-2162
• /
• 2011

The goal of this Paper is to reduce rail's wear in curved track by applying an additional surface layer material(High hardness and High resistance capacity of wear) on the top of the railhead. In order to evaluate appropriation of a coating material, experimental tests such as the varieties of fundamental properties tests (hardening, wear, tensile, and bending) and RCF(rolling contact fatigue)test were performed to establish fatigue wear and damage mechanism. As a result, wear performance of coating rail is better than heated rail about 6times and normal rail about 8~9times.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
• /
• 2011.10a
• /
• pp.2135-2146
• /
• 2011

The rail surface irregularity is generated severely by train braking effect in the section of station. The braking force increases slip rate and friction factors caused by wheel-rail contact points. It brings rail surface irregularity as well. In this study, interactions between wheel and rail were investigated using rolling contact fatigue theory and mechanism of rail degradation through fracture mechanics. For the more, the Von-Mises stress occurred on the rail due to the interaction between wheel and rail was analyzed using 3-D finite element method. The amounts of surface irregularity of rail were measured according to accumulated passing tonnage in urban railway in fields. Therefore, the maintenance of rail should be separated by running and braking sections to prevent RCF defects.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.7 no.9
• /
• pp.744-749
• /
• 1997

본 연구에서는 고주파 유도경화처리한 중탄소강의 회전접촉 피로거동을 0.44wt.%C강과 0.55wt.%C강을 사용하여 조사하였다. 회전접촉 피로시험은 Polymet RCF-1 시험기에서 탄성유체 윤활 조건으로 회전속도 8,000rpm, 최대 Hertz응력 492kg/m$m^2$을 가하면서 실시하였다. 미세한 lath마르텐사이트가 고주파 유도경화한 0.44wt.%C강과 0.55wt.%C강의 표면경화층에 형성되었고 소량의 페라이트가 일부 형성되었으며 0.44wt.%C강과 0.55wt.%C에 비해 비교적 큰 페라이트가 나타났다. 회전접촉 피로시험 후 표면경도가 거의 유지되는 표면경화층에서 회전접촉 피로시험전에 비해 경도가 상승하였다. 이 경도증가량의 최대치($\Delta$ Hv$_{max}$)와 피로수명과의 관계를 조사한 결과 0.55wt.%C강이 0.44wt.%C강에 비해 회전접촉 피로중에 일어나는 소변형에 대한 높은 저항성에 주로 기인하여 $\Delta$ Hv$_{max}$값은 낮게 나타나고 피로수명은 높게 나타났다.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.447-454
• /
• 2010

The defects of rail head induced by fatigue and deterioration are mainly classified by two types ; one occurred on the surface of rail head the another occurred on the inner rail head. This study performed the surface irregularity measurement of rail head according to the passing tonnage in the urban railway. Also, we carried out microscopic structure test, chemical component test and micro-hardness test for the specimen which is the used rail on metro line by accumulated passing tonnage. As a result of this study, for new rail, it should be performed initial grinding in order to remove 0.3mm of de-carbonized layer. The preventive-cyclic grinding for preventing RCF defects is proposed two options : grinding by the whole line and grinding by specified sections.