Fracture toughness of medium-high carbon steel for railroad wheel

Railroad wheel brittle fracture is catastrophic, and can cause a derailment. Such usage conditions as load and speed of railroad vehicles have become severe in recent years. Therefore, more precise evaluation of wheel strength and safety has been desired. From recent development of fracture mechanics, it is clear that in order to prevent the wheel fracture, fracture toughness of medium-high carbon steel for railroad wheels should be raised. This paper describes the effect of carbon, manganese, aluminum solution on the fracture toughness. Ferrite volume fraction and grain refinement were analysed to obtain the relationship between fracture toughness and material characteristics in medium-high carbon steel.