Investigation of Roller Coaster

By: Farouk Merazka

Mate 25
Apr 28, 2014


Cover Memo

To: Dr, sepka
From: Farouk Merazka
Failure investigation of wheel assembly and rail bent

The Goal of this investigation is to determine the reasons that causes the rail
bending in the roller coaster rides, and to find out if the ride is still risk for users.
The comparison of the hardness of the sample of steel that was tempered at a particular
temperature to the rail bend specimen indicates that that the hardness of 4140 steel
specimen is actually different from the hardness value of the heat treated 4140 steel. The
expected value of the hardness of rail is between 35 HRc and 40 HR
C
. The actual
hardness of the sample from roller coaster was 7.4 HRc. The chemical analysis indicts
that the specifications of the 4140 steel used for the roller coaster ride rail lies within the
expected value of 4140 steel according to AISI. Therefore the specimen is 4140 steel.
The microstructure of the steel shows that the specimen was not properly heated during
the heat process treatment.
The causes for the equipment failure are still unidentified. The Safe way to handle
situation like that is to shut down the rides until all the inspection finishes. The other part
of the roller coaster should be investigated by safety officers to insure that the steels
specifications confirm with the specifications expected. The part of the rails that was
bended should be removed from the site and replaced by new rails. The hardness should
be tested for the new rails as well as for old rails to make sure that the hardness is within
the expected value.

Introduction:
The Goal of this report is the determination of the reasons behind the equipment
failure of roller coaster ride causes a death of many people. In addition the report will
determine whether it is safe to operate roller coaster or not. In order to determine the
causes, a bunch of tests should be conducted on bended part of the roller coaster such as
the measure of the hardness and the study of microstructure of the failure equipment.
The new design of the rails of the roller coaster rides is made by the 4140 steel that
contains between 0.38wt% and 0.43 wt% of carbon however the older designed is made
by 1018 steel, which contains 0.18 wt% of carbon. The carbon content inside the steel can
be measured by determination of the strength of steel. The harder the steel, the more
carbon content it has.
There are five phases of steel: austenite, pearlite, cementite, ferrite, and martensite
Austenite: is a steel iron and carbon at 912C that transforms the BCC structure of ferrite
into FCC crystalline iron. This process of heating is called austenitizing. The carbon gets
dissolve interstitially into alloy. The maximum level of solubility of the carbon is 2.0
wt%.
Ferrite: It is also known as the alpha iron, it has BCC crystalline structure, and its
maximum solubility of the carbon is 0.025 wt%
Pearlite: the steel is heated up to 727C and then let cool down slowly, two-phased will
appear lamellar structure is formed that is made up of alpha-ferrite and cementite. Its
content of carbon is 0.77wt%.
Cementite: Cementite is the iron carbide its chemical formula is Fe
3
C and its content of
carbon is 6.67 wt% and the rest is iron.
Martensite: This is a phase between crystalline arrangement of BCC and FCC crystalline
structure formed by quenching of austenite. During the cooling process the carbon atoms
do not get enough time to diffuse throughout the crystal. The austenite to martensite
transition occurs when there is not sufficient time for the carbon atoms to diffuse
properly. Due to fast cooling, an intermediate crystallization structure of BCC and FCC
forms which is called martensite. The atoms of carbon trapped during fast cooling process
changes the shape the martensite lattice and causes internal stress. The martensite has a
low toughness, however it is brittle and it has high strength. In order to change the
material properties of steel, the still need to do tempered. The tempering of the steel will
restore the ductility and toughness of the steel. The tempering process is done by heating
martensite below 727C for considerable amount of time, which allows atoms of carbon
to diffuse in interstitial positions to form carbides.

Experimental Procedure:
First Part the specimen from the factory
1. Place six samples of steel specimen in furnace at 866C for an hour.
2. Take all the specimens out of the furnace after one hour.
3. Put 4 specimens immediately in water for rapid cooling, and Put the fifth specimen
in the room temperature to cool down.
4. Set the furnaces temperature at 205C, 370C, 482C, and 677C and put the four
specimens that were quench in water in the furnace for an hour.
5. Take the four specimens out of the furnace and let them immediately drop them in
water.
6. Take the cooled specimen and determine the hardness of the six samples using
hardness test (Hardness Rockwell C Scale. (Figure 1) )
7. Perform Charpy test on all six samples. Calculate the impact energy and determine
the type of fracture for all specimens. (Figure 2 and 3)
8. Second Part the specimen form the bent rail:
9. Cut the specimen into a cubes shape specimen approximately .5 to .75 inch from
the bent wheel assembly rail using the Buehler Model 1000. (Figure 4)
10. Put the specimen on the mounting thermoplastic material of diameter .25 inch and
thickness .75 inch using Buehler SimpliMet 2 hot mounting press machine.
(Figure 5)
11. Complete the coarse grinding of the specimen by the120 grit belt for a few minute;
rotate the specimen 90 and continue grinding. After finishing grinding on 120
grit, then move to fine grinding by using 240 grit followed by 320, 400 and600
grits. (Figure 6)
12. Polish the surface to remove scratches that were left during grinding. Make sure
that the specimen is clean and washed before starting.
13. Before polishing apply liquid slurry (contains alumina in de-ionized water) on
polishing wheel of 1 m alumina and hold the specimen on the wheel rotating it
30-40 angle, then move on to the next polishing wheel of 0.3 m alumina. Polish
on each wheel for 2 minutes. After polish, we will get smooth, shiny and bright
surface. (Figure 7)
14. Pour 1% nitric acid in ethanol on specimen for about 9 sec and clean the specimen
surface with water. (Figure 8 and 9)
15. Put the specimen under the microscope to see the microstructure of the specimen
and compare it to other samples that were tampered at different temperatures.
(Figure 10)
Discussion:
Data:



The table shows the hardness, impact energy and type of fracture for the steel samples.

Treatment Avg
HRc
Impact
Energy
(J)
Type of
Fracture
Air Cooled
No Tamper
19.6 17 Brittle
As Quenched
No Tamper
56.3 3 Brittle
Quenched
205 C
Temper
54.4 5 Brittle
Quenched
370 C
Temper
48.2 7 Brittle
Quenched
482 C
Temper
39.1 60 ductile
Quenched
677 C
Temper
28.38 136 Ductile
Based on the collected data, we see that the hardness of quenched steel tempered
at 205C has the maximum hardness strength. The impact energy for quenched 677C steel
is 122 that make it ductile in fracture.


Graph 1: graph shows the hardness VS the heat treatment of the samples.

Data for the quenched steel tempered at different temperature is shown in the following
data table:
Temper Avg HRc
32C 17
205C 3
370C 5
482C 60
677C 136


Graph 2 represents the hardness of steel vs. the tempered

temperature that shows that the
hardness increases up to 205C temper and then start declining.




Graph 3: The graph shows the hardness vs. impact energy of steel
The expected hardness of rail bent specimen should be between R
C
35 and 40
measured by Rockwell hardness tester, however the actual average hardness of 4140 steel
is found between R
C
7.4. This gives an idea that there is something wrong with the steel.
To determine the cause of failure, the microstructure of the failure specimen need to be
determine.
19.6
56.3
54.4
48.2
39.1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
32 205 370 482 677
H
R
c

Temperature Degree C
temperature vs HRc
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
19.6 56.3 54.4 48.2 39.1
I
m
p
a
c
t

o
f

e
n
g
e
r
g
y

HRc
HRc vs Impact of energy
Chemical Analysis of believed 4140 steel rail bent sample is below.
Element SAE/AISI 4140
steel
(wt %)
Bent Rail sample
By analysis (wt
%)
Cr 0.80 1.10 0.93 + 0.01
Mo 0.15 0.25 0.21 + 0.01
Mn 0.75 1.00 0.93 + 0.02
Si 0.15 0.30 0.21 + 0.02
P 0.035 max. < 0.013
C 0.38 -0.43 0.41 + 0.01

Based on the compositions and the specification of the specimen, it is apparent that
the sample is 4140 steel. A microscopic picture of the specimen can help determine the
reason of failure.
Some of the photos of samples that were tempered at different temperatures and
rail bend specimen. These samples were magnified by the microscope at 400X..


Photo 1: The photo was taken by microscope at 400X that shows the microstructure of
1040 steel furnace cooled



Photo 2: The photo was taken by microscope at 400X that shows the microstructure of
4140 steel furnace cooled.

Photo 3: The photo was taken by microscope at 400X that shows the microstructure of
4140 steel water quench, tempered at 205C



Photo 4: The photo was taken by microscope at 400X that shows the microstructure of
4140 steel water quench tempered 370C


Photo 5: The photo was taken by microscope at 400X that shows the microstructure of
4140 steel water quench tempered 677C



Photo 6: The photo was taken by microscope at 400X that shows the microstructure of
bent rail specimen etch for 10 sec.

Photo 7: The photo was taken by microscope at 400X that shows the microstructure of
bent rail specimen etch for 8 sec.
A comparison of the photos of the samples to the bent rail specimen. The
microstructure of the bent rail doesnt resemble the microstructure of the specimen that
was tempered at 480C. The microstructure of the bent specimen resembles to the photos
of sample of 4140 steel furnace cooled and 1014 steel furnace cooled.
Conclusion:
The specifications and compositions of the specimen is similar to the 4140 steel,
however the hardness of the specimen is not the same as the 4110 steel. From the
microstructure of the bent steel specimen, it appear that probably the reason of failure is
the improper heat treatment of rails which could be a possible cause of making the 4110
steel less brittle. Quenching of steel after tempering can also be a possible reason for the
failure. The reason for the failure is still undetermined. I suggest to Cal-OSHA Safety
Director to keep the rides shut down until all the rails and wheel assembly are inspected
properly because the reason of failure is still unknown. The hardness of the all roller
coaster rails should be within the range of 35 40 HR if one part of the rail is found to be
out of the rage, the roller coaster should be close for until the parts are replaced. Another
possible reason in the assembly. The assembly of the rail can affect the Hardness of the
steel especially if the assembly include heating





















Appendix:



Figure 1: Performing the
using Hardness Rockwell C

type of fracture occurred on all
tester.

steel samples.
Figure 2: Using Charpy
test, we hardness test of
steel samples determine
the impact energy and



Figure 3



Figure 4: Using the Buehler
Modle1000, we cut a cube shape
specimen
































Figure 6: The grinding on 120, 240,
320, 400 and 600 grits to remove
scratches from our specimen

Figure 5: mounting the
thermoplastic material on our
specimen using Buehler mpliMet
2 hot mounting press machine.
Figure 7: This picture shows
the polishing of specimen on
0.1 and 0.3 m alumina
rotating wheel.


.


Figure 9: Cleaning the 4140 steel
specimen in water after
performing steel etching to make
it ready for microstructure study
Figure 8: Performing steel
etching by pouring the
specimen in 1% nitric acid in
ethanol for 8 sec.

Figure 10: Performing microstructure study of 4140 steel to determine the cause
of roller coaster equipment failure.