Study of rolling-sliding contact damage and tribo-chemical behaviour of wheel-rail materials at low temperatures

The influence of the decrease in environmental temperature on the wear and tribo-chemical behaviours of wheel-rail materials was studied. The results indicated that, at all tested temperatures, a tribo-film zone, oxidation zone and metallic zone were formed on the worn rail surfaces. The decrease in the temperature could decrease the content of O and Fe3+ ions both in the tribo-film zone and the oxidation zone. As the temperature was reduced below 0 °C, the tribo-film zone on the rail surface enlarged significantly, leading to a decline in the wear rate of the rail material. With the decrease in the temperature, the embedded wear debris spots on the wheel surface increased and the wear rate of wheel decreased gradually. As the temperature declined from 20 °C to −40 °C, the wear form of wheel-rail would transform from the severe wear to mild the wear.