Study on wear transition mechanism and wear map of CL60 wheel material under dry and wet conditions

Abstract In this study, effects of the slip ratio and contact pressure on the evolution of wear and damage of CL60 wheel material were explored using an MJP-30A wheel-rail rolling-wear and contact fatigue testing machine. Wear maps and damage mechanism maps of wheel material under both dry and wet conditions were constructed. Based on the wear rates of the wheel rollers, the wear map of CL60 wheel material under dry conditions was divided into three areas: mild wear area, severe wear area and catastrophic wear area. While, the wear map under wet condition was divided into two areas: ultra mild wear area and mild wear area. Through the damage mechanism maps, it could be observed that the surface damage transforms from pitting to delamination under dry condition and the peeling damage was gradually aggravated with the increase in slip ratio and contact pressure. Under the wet condition, plowing damage was predominant and delamination damage gradually occurred with the increase in slip ratio and contact pressure.