Wheel flange/rail gauge corner contact lubrication: Tribological investigations

The goal of this work is to improve understanding of wheel/rail lubricating mechanisms and propose an approach for use in the future to evaluate new lubricants suitable for the wheel flange/rail gauge corner contact. This work is carried out in the framework of the European research program “Urban Track” (project no FP6-31312). Previous works on wheel–rail contacts have highlighted the presence of a natural third body composed of detached particles from both the wheel and the rail. In the case of the active (i.e. where wheel–rail contact occurs) rail gauge corner and the wheel flange contact, this third body is quickly mixed with the active flange lubricant, resulting in a mixture that can be considered as the “real” lubricant of the contact.