Very-High-Cycle Fatigue and Charpy Impact Characteristics of Manganese Steel for Railway Axle at Low Temperatures

Railway vehicles are being exposed with increasing frequency to conditions of severe heat and cold because of changes in the climate. Trains departing from Asia travel to Europe through the Eurasian continent and vice versa. Given these circumstances, the mechanical properties and performance of vehicle components must therefore be evaluated at lower and higher temperatures than those in current standards. In this study, specimens were produced from a commercial freight train axle made of manganese steel and subjected to high-cycle fatigue tests at −60, −30, and 20 °C. The tests were conducted using an ultrasonic fatigue tester developed to study fatigue at low temperatures. Charpy impact testing was performed over the temperature range of −60 to 60 °C to measure the impact absorption energy of the axle material. The material showed a fatigue limit above 2 million cycles at each temperature; the lower the test temperature, the greater the fatigue limit cycles. The impact absorption energy at −60 °C was 81% less compared to the value at 20 °C. The axle material became completely brittle in the temperature range of −30 to −40 °C.