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135144, 1998
1998. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Printed in Great Britain
01421123/98/$19.00+.00
PII: S0142-1123(97)00096-0
Axles are one of the most important components in railway vehicle with regard to safety, since a failsafe design is not available. To maintain the safety record of high speed railway systems, the fatigue
strength of the axles has been extensively studied. The objective of the present paper is to review and
analyse the causes of failure in railway axles, and to show how the results have been applied to
improve axle manufacture and in-service inspection. The problems of fretting fatigue crack initiation at
press-fitted axle parts is emphasized, however, these problems have not been completely solved even
though up-to-date fatigue design methods are employed. The safety of the railway has been ensured
by maintenance such as the regular inspection for fatigue cracks at critical parts. 1998 Elsevier
Science Ltd.
(Keywords: failure analysis; fretting fatigue; evaluation; railway axle)
INTRODUCTION
Allowable stress
Fatigue strength critical parts of the railway axle are
the wheel seats, gear seats and brake disk seat where
fretting fatigue cracks may initiate. Allowable stresses
are given in standards as shown in Table 24. Table 3
shows the allowable stresses according to the European
standard5 in which the material is specified as carbon
steel of 0.37C% with annealed conditions. This material
corresponds to the materials specified as the second
class in the Japanese standard. Therefore, the allowable
stresses in both standards are approximately the same.
Detailed design
In order to increase the fretting fatigue strength at
the press-fitted parts, many shape and material change
countermeasures are adopted. The detail shape of the
press-fitted part is shown in Figure 26. The axle diam-
135
FAT: international journal of fatigue - elsevier
K. Hirakawa et al.
136
Figure 1
eters of the wheel and brake disk seats are larger than
the diameter of the plain part, and the fillet curvatures
are optimized. The fillet shapes in the high speed
railway systems of various countries are compared in
Railway system
System 1
System 2
Class
Velocity V (km h 1)
Vertical accelerationV
Horizontal accelerationL
SA
A
A
200350
150200
60160
60
60130
60
0.0027V
0.0027V
0.0027V
0.16
0.0052V
0.31
0.030 0.00060V
0.030 0.00085V
0.040 0.0012V
0.11
0.060 0.0018V
0.17
Table 2
Class
1
2
3
4
Measurement
SFA55 annealing
SFA60 annealing
SFA65 quench and
tempering
SFAQA induction
hardening
Diameter
D (mm)
d (mm)
Diameter ratio
D/d
Radius
(mm)
147 (15.0)
Table 4 The diameter ratio and the fillet radius of the axles6
Materials
Table 3
137
Shinkansen
TGV
ICE
209
190
212
184
190
160
1.10
1.15
1.19
100
15 and 75
15 and 75
Railway
TGV (France)
ICE (Germany)
Allowable stress
(MPa)
Safety factor
1.2
1.5
1.0
1.0
Figure 2
K. Hirakawa et al.
138
Figure 4
Figure 6
prevention of axle fatigue failure. In 1963, the ultrasonic angle probe was introduced to improve the threshold level of crack detection. Since that time, fatigue
cracks initiated at the press-fitted part have been
detected before they grow to final failures. The fatigue
cracks were detected in 48 axles during a period of
15 months in around 1970. Figure 4 shows the distribution of the parts where fatigue cracks were detected.
Fatigue cracks in 45 axles of the 48 axles were known
to have initiated at the wheel seats where the gear was
closely press-fitted as shown Figure 5. Three axles had
cracks at the journal bearing press-fit. As shown in
the figure, all cracks initiated at the fretted part of the
axle and were accompanied by fretting corrosion as
shown in Figure 6.
The distribution of the crack depths is shown in
Figure 7. The threshold crack depth detectable by the
1970 inspection method was ca 0.3 mm. The typical
139
Years in service
Yearmonth
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
76
64
90
90
911
911
911
80
80
71
74
1.53
1.60
1.17
1.17
1.57
1.57
1.57
1.60
1.60
1.31
1.31
(5.67
(5.93
(4.33
(4.33
(5.81
(5.81
(5.81
(5.93
(5.93
(4.85
(4.85
108)
108)
108)
108)
108)
108)
108)
108)
108)
108)
108)
0.6 1/3
1.1 3/5
0.6 1/3
0.3 1/4
0.8 1/3
0.5 1/2
0.3 1/2
0.45 3/5
0.5 1/5
0.5 1/1
0.4 1/1
Wheel
Wheel
Wheel
Wheel
Wheel
Wheel
Wheel
Wheel
Wheel
Wheel
Wheel
seat
seat
seat
seat
seat
seat
seat
seat
seat
seat
seat
140
K. Hirakawa et al.
141
K. Hirakawa et al.
142
Table 6
Loco.
Mileage [km]
(cycles)
Material
TS (MPa)
EL No. 1
SFA60 (0.42%C)
360
SFA60 (0.41%C)
630
340
EL No.3
Not available
SFA60 (0.41%C)
640
350
EL No.4
SFA60 (0.46%C)
680
EL No.5
Remarks
IH (10 kHz)
Wheel seat
Broken
Tempered at
350C
IH (10 kHz)
(gear side)
Derailed
Broken
Derailed
Wheel seat
(gear side)
Cracked
15 mm 60 mm
Wheel seat
Broken
(gear side)
Derailed
Wheel seat
Broken
(gear side)
Derailed
Suspension
(gear side)
Broken
Metal seat
Tempered at
350C
IH (10 kHz)
Tempered at
350C
IH (10 kHz)
360
Tempered at
350C
IH (10 kHz)
SFA60 (0.39%C)
640
EL No. 6
Crack initiation
YS (MPa)
600
EL No.2
Heat treatment
350
Tempered at
350C
IH (10 kHz)
Tempered at
180C
SFA60 (0.43%C)
600
330
EL, Electric locomotive; TS, tensile strength; YS, yield strength; SFA60, forged carbon steel for TS not less than 60 kgf mm
a
Galled: axle surfaces are sometimes called by the press-fitting process
Table 7
Effect of the heat-treatment on the fatigue strength of full scale press-fitted axles for the locomotive heat treatment
Heat treatment
Pre-heat
Non
Non
Ind. coil
Furnace
Non
Non
Ind. coil
Furnace
Frequency (kHz)
10
3
3
3
10
3
3
3
Number of cycles
Remarks
0.284 106
0.495 106
0.801 106
5.31 106
2.0 107
2.0 107
2.0 107
2.0 107
Broken
Broken
Broken
Broken
Not broken
Not broken
Not broken
Not broken
Tempering (C)
350
350
350
350
200
200
200
200
143
Specification
Induction heating
Frequency (kHz)
Coil
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
3
Single turn
Single turn
Single turn
Single turn
Single turn
Multiple turn
Multiple turn
Multiple turn
O
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Tempering temperature
(C)
Finishing
190
230
230
230
230
230
230
200
Grinding
Grinding
Turning before grinding
Turning before grinding
Turning before grinding
Turning before grinding
Turning before grinding
Turning before grinding
144
K. Hirakawa et al.
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
11