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Welding and Fatigue of Railway Metallic Materials

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A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701). This special issue belongs to the section "Welding and Joining".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 30555

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Byeong Choon Goo

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Guest Editor

Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI), Advanced Railroad Vehicle Division, Uiwang 16105, South Korea
Interests: welding; fatigue and fracture; post-weld heat treatment; wheel/rail contact; new materials; ultrasonic impact peening

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Welding is an effective tool in the railway industry. Rolling stock bogie frames and car bodies are mainly produced using welding. About 40% of vehicle manufacturing processes are welding processes. Welding is also used in steel bridge construction and rail connections. Therefore, it is easy to predict that many fatigue failures will occur in the weldment. To solve various problems occurring in the weldment, it is necessary to share the research results obtained in the field and the academic world. New welding technologies such as laser welding, friction stir welding, and dissimilar welding are applied. The effect of weld residual stress and post-weld heat treatment on fatigue strength has not yet been identified. To improve the fatigue lifetime of the weldment, a new post-weld surface treatment like ultrasonic impact peening is applied. Since railway vehicles are in service for more than 20 years, fatigue life evaluation in a very high cycle range is necessary. With improving computer performance and the development of analysis algorithms, the real welding process can be simulated. For this Special Issue in Metals, we welcome reviews and articles concerning welding-related discoveries and theories related to welding in the railway industry and academia. Other relevant topics that have not been mentioned here are also welcome.

Dr. Byeong Choon Goo
Guest Editor

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Keywords

New welding technology
Welding residual stress
Post-weld heat treatment
Post-weld surface treatment
Fatigue lifetime estimation
Innovative non-destructive technology
Finite element analysis

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 4889 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study of Melting Methods by Electric Resistance Welding of Rails

by Viktor A. Rezanov, Nikita V. Martyushev, Vladislav V. Kukartsev, Vadim S. Tynchenko, Viktor A. Kukartsev, Anna V. Grinek, Vadim Y. Skeeba, Anatoly V. Lyosin and Antonina I. Karlina

Metals 2022, 12(12), 2135; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12122135 - 13 Dec 2022

Cited by 47 | Viewed by 1836

Abstract

An analysis of the results of rail operation shows that up to a third of all rail breaks in the railway line and up to 12.9% of all withdrawn acute defective rails are associated with welded joints. This is largely explained by the formation of structures with martensite sections in the welded joints of rails and the formation of burns. This work presents the results of studying welded joints, obtained under three welding modes (continuous flash welding, pulsating flash welding and combined flash welding). The conducted studies have shown that the flash welding mode significantly influences both the cooling rate value and the very nature of the thermal cycle of the welded joint as a whole. Changes in the cooling rate under different modes exert a significant influence on the structure and properties of the weld. Resistance welding of rails from the steel grade E76HGF by pulsating flash welding can result in the appearance of needle martensite areas, which is the reason for increased embrittlement of the weld and a decrease in its properties. The conducted field experiments have reliably shown that in the conditions of the combined welding mode it becomes possible to avoid these problems. Moreover, a slight increase in the mechanical properties of the weld in the range of 2–4% has been experimentally recorded, and the destructive load of the welded joint of the rail increases by 2–3% at high values of the bending deflection. In turn, these factors allow a significant reduction in the number of cases of rail welded-joint failures in real conditions of their operation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Welding and Fatigue of Railway Metallic Materials)

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16 pages, 8496 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Simulation and Microstructure Prediction of Resistance Spot Welding of Stainless Steel to Carbon Steel

by Behzad Sadeghian, Aboozar Taherizadeh, Talieh Salehi, Behzad Sadeghi and Pasquale Cavaliere

Metals 2022, 12(11), 1898; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12111898 - 6 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2459

Abstract

Joining of stainless steel to carbon steel is widely used in various industries. Resistance spot welding (RSW) is a suitable process for joining steel sheets. Due to the complexity and importance of optimizing the parameters, numerical simulation of this process was considered. In this research, the electrical-thermal-mechanical simulation of RSW of 304 stainless steel to St37 carbon steel was performed using finite element method (FEM). Then, the simulated weld nugget size was compared with the experimental results of optical microscopy (OM). In addition, diffusion of metallic elements of the steels in the molten region was simulated using Fick’s equation and compared with experimental results of energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). It was shown that diffusion of Cr and Ni through the weld nugget, would make a new stainless steel structure. Microstructure prediction of the heat affected zone (HAZ) was performed using Koistinen–Marburger and Leblond–Devaux equations to predict the percentage of martensite and ferrite-perlite phases during the heating and cooling stages of the specimens from room temperature to the peak temperature and cooling down under the M_f temperature. The results of this simulation were validated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and shear tensile and micro-hardness test results. The simulation results showed that increasing the heat input from 1250 A during 0.5 s to 3750 A during 1.5 s, increases the percentage of martensite, from 40% to 80%, in the HAZ and widens the martensite region. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Welding and Fatigue of Railway Metallic Materials)

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17 pages, 5905 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Porosity on the Thermo-Mechanical Behavior of Friction-Stir-Welded Spark-Plasma-Sintered Aluminum Matrix Composites with Bimodal Micro- and Nano-Sized Reinforcing Al₂O₃ Particles

by Behzad Sadeghi, Behzad Sadeghian, Aboozar Taherizadeh, Aleksandra Laska, Pasquale Cavaliere and Arun Gopinathan

Metals 2022, 12(10), 1660; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12101660 - 2 Oct 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1838

Abstract

The thermo-mechanical behavior of nanosized Al₂O₃ particles reinforcing aluminum was analyzed in the present paper. The material was prepared by spark plasma sintering and friction stir welding. The thermal stresses affecting the composite behavior during welding were modeled through COMSOL MultiPhysics, and the results were validated by the analyses of the composites’ mechanical properties. The spark-plasma-sintered materials presented limited porosity, which was taken into account during the modeling phase. Both model and experiments revealed that higher heat input is related to better material mixing during welding and sound mechanical properties. Thermal stresses lead to residual stresses close to 300 MPa in the thermo-mechanically affected zone for processing conditions of 1900 RPM and 37 mm/min. This leads to an increase in hardness up to 72 HV. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Welding and Fatigue of Railway Metallic Materials)

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20 pages, 3749 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of the Tool Rotational Speed on Physical and Chemical Properties of Dissimilar Friction-Stir-Welded AA5083/AA6060 Joints

by Aleksandra Laska, Marek Szkodo, Pasquale Cavaliere and Angelo Perrone

Metals 2022, 12(10), 1658; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12101658 - 30 Sep 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1860

Abstract

Aluminum alloys have been successfully used in the railroad and automotive industries because of their potential to significantly reduce component weights, and their good mechanical and anti-corrosion properties. Problems with joining aluminum alloys are characterized by low weldability, which influences the need for studies focused on unconventional methods. The environmentally friendly and low-cost friction-stir-welding method enables the material to be joined without melting. In the following study, dissimilar butt joints were produced from AA5083 and AA6060 alloys. A constant tool traverse speed of 100 mm/min and a tool tilt angle of 2º were used, combined with tool rotational speeds of 800, 1000 and 1200 RPM. It was revealed that as the tool speed increases, the hardness in the weld nugget zone increases, due to higher heat input and more effective recrystallization. The highest hardness of the weld nugget zone was observed for the weld that was produced with the highest tool rotational speed, and was equal to 1.07 GPa, compared to the hardness of both parent materials of 0.75 and 1.15 GPa for AA5083 and AA6060, respectively. Increasing the heat input also decreased the hardness of the heat-affected zone, where recrystallization was not observed. The lowest density of dislocations with the highest mobility was observed in the heat-affected zone on the AA6060 side, which also contributed to the reduction in strength in this zone. The produced welds exhibited corrosion resistance between both parent materials, with the lowest corrosion current density being 6.935 ± 0.199 µA·cm⁻² for the weld that was produced at a tool speed of 1200 RPM. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Welding and Fatigue of Railway Metallic Materials)

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17 pages, 7288 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Welding Polarity on Mechanical Properties of Submerged Arc Welded Railway Vehicle Wheels

by Byeong-Choon Goo, Jung-Won Seo and Young-Jin Lee

Metals 2022, 12(8), 1381; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12081381 - 19 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2455

Abstract

When a railway vehicle moves on a curved rail, sliding contact between the rail head side and wheel flange causes wear on the wheel flange. Traditionally, a wheel with thinned flange is machined to get a minimum flange thickness specified for structural safety. This operation reduces the rim thickness and shortens the life of the wheel. In the present study, the thinned flanges were hard-faced by submerged arc welding. A welding wire, which has good weldability to the base material of the wheel and does not generate thermal cracking, was developed. The effects of welding polarity on the microstructure, hardness, friction coefficient, and wear characteristics of the welded wheel were studied. The hardness of the wheel welded with reverse polarity was similar to that of welded with straight polarity. The wear rates of the wheel disc welded with reverse polarity and its counterpart rail disc were 11% and 27% lower than those welded with straight polarity. Delamination wear due to subsurface crack propagation and oxidation wear were mixed. The hardness of the rail before the wear test was in the range of 250–300 HV. After the wear test, it soared to 500 HV. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Welding and Fatigue of Railway Metallic Materials)

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16 pages, 4536 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Processing Parameters on Strength and Corrosion Resistance of Friction Stir-Welded AA6082

by Aleksandra Laska, Marek Szkodo, Damian Koszelow and Pasquale Cavaliere

Metals 2022, 12(2), 192; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12020192 - 20 Jan 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3662

Abstract

The friction stir welding method is increasingly attracting interest in the railway sector due to its environmental friendliness, low cost, and ease of producing high-quality joints. Using aluminum alloys reduces the weight of structures, increasing their payload and reducing fuel consumption and running costs. The following paper presents studies on the microstructure, strength, and corrosion resistance of AA6082 aluminum alloy sheets joined via friction stir welding. The sheets were joined by employing two different traverse speeds (200 and 250 mm/min), two different rotational speeds (1000 and 1250 rpm), and two different tool tilt angles (0° and 2°). It was observed that the use of the inclined tool provides finer microstructure in the nugget zone, higher value of microhardness, and better corrosion resistance, compared to the tilt angle equal to 0°. By increasing the value of revolutionary pitch, finer grains are observed in the nugget zone and the measured hardness is higher. It was also observed that the change in process parameters strongly influences the radius of the nugget zone and the potentiodynamic properties of the friction stir-welded material. The joints produced with the tool tilt angle equal to 2°, the tool traverse speed of 200 mm/min, and its rotational speed of 1250 rpm revealed the highest hardness in the nugget zone (about 92% of the base material). Moreover, the finest grain size in the nugget with the average value of 9.8 ± 1.5 µm was found. The lowest corrosion current density equal to 16.029 µA cm⁻² was noted for the sample with the highest strength, which also provides its good corrosion resistance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Welding and Fatigue of Railway Metallic Materials)

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15 pages, 11592 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Heterogeneous Microstructure-Induced Creep Failure Responses in Various Sub-Zones of Modified 310S Welded Joints

by Yunlu Jiang, Ying Kan and Huaining Chen

Metals 2022, 12(1), 116; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12010116 - 7 Jan 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2767

Abstract

In order to reveal the creep failure behavior of novel modified 310S austenite steel welded joints, the creep life and microstructure evolution of the 310S austenite steel welded joints were investigated in this study. The rupture life was assessed to estimate the damage of the welded joint based on creep rupture tests performed at 600 °C in the stress range of 170–238 MPa. Compared with WM, HAZ facilitated the occurrence of creep failure in long term creep due to the combination of a smaller hardness value, a more heterogenous microstructure accompanied by coarsened M₂₃C₆, a larger grain size, higher KAM and Schmid factor. Discontinuous Laves phases appeared near the boundaries between the δ-ferrite and γ-austenite grains in the WM, and dislocation strengthening and precipitation strengthening were observed near the boundary in the BM. Furthermore, segregation elements were detected by APT and EDS adjacent to the boundary. Cr and C segregation near grain boundaries weaken the creep resistance in long term creep service. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Welding and Fatigue of Railway Metallic Materials)

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17 pages, 81073 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on Medium-Thick Al-Alloy T-Joints by Dual P-GMAW Bilateral Synchronous Welding

by Chunsheng Wang, Haicang Zhang, Zhaoyang Yan, Yun Zhao and Shujun Chen

Metals 2021, 11(11), 1794; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11111794 - 8 Nov 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1851

Abstract

The T-joints of medium-thick 6082 Al-alloy plates created by dual pulsed gas metal arc welding (P-GMAW) and bilateral synchronous welding were investigated to improve weld quality using the adaptive deposition method, which calculates the minimum amount of deposition according to the welding condition, groove size, and cross-sectional area, effectively reducing the heat input and deformation of the welds on the basis of weld filling. The optimized linear energy with a wire feed speed (WFS) of 9.5 m/min can ensure a well-formed weld with a complete root fusion, and high-quality T-joint welds were obtained both in root openings of 0 mm and 1 mm. The biggest penetration was 4 mm, which was four times more than that of the result from a single torch welding process. When the distance between the two welding torches exceeded 20 mm, the molten pool was completely separated, and process pores were observed in the unfused root zone. Influenced by the thermal cycles in asymmetric welding, the hardness distribution changed: the width of the softer zone at the base plate with the fore arc was smaller than that zone with the rear arc. Furthermore, dual P-GMAW bilateral synchronous welding with an asymmetric heat source can further reduce the deformation of the welded joint by about 20% compared to that of symmetric welding. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Welding and Fatigue of Railway Metallic Materials)

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19 pages, 9399 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Post-Weld Heat Treatment on the Fatigue Behavior of Medium-Strength Carbon Steel Weldments

by Byeong-Choon Goo

Metals 2021, 11(11), 1700; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11111700 - 25 Oct 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3863

Abstract

Railway vehicle makers manufacture the bogie frame by welding medium-strength carbon steel sheets. It has been a long-standing practice to perform post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) to remove welding-residual stress, but rail car manufacturers are moving toward producing bogie frames without PWHT. Since securing the fatigue strength of the bogie frame is essential for vehicle operation safety, it is necessary to systematically evaluate the effects of PWHT on hardness, microstructure, mechanical properties, corrosion, fatigue strength, etc. In this study, small-scale welding specimens and full-size components were produced using S355JR used in general structures, automobiles, shipbuilding, railroad vehicles, etc. The effect of PWHT on material properties-the hardness of the base material, heat-affected zone and weld metal, microstructure, shock absorption energy, yield strength, tensile strength, and fatigue were investigated. When the weld specimen was annealed at 590 °C and 800 °C for 1 h, the yield strength and tensile strength of the specimen decreased, but the elongation increased. For specimens not heat-treated, the parent material’s yield strength, the yield strength in HAZ, and the yield strength of the weld metal were 350 MPa, 345 MPa, and 340 MPa. For specimens heat-treated at 590 °C, they were 350 MPa, 345 MPa, and 340 MPa. For specimens heat-treated at 800 °C, they were 350 MPa, 345 MPa, and 340 MPa. Annealing heat treatment of the specimen at 800 °C homogenized the structure of the weldments similar to that of the base material and slightly improved the shock absorption energy. For specimens not heat-treated, the Charpy impact absorption energies at 20 °C of the parent material and weld metal were 291.5 J and 187 J. For specimens heat-treated at 590 °C, they were 276 J and 166 J. For specimens heat-treated at 800 °C, the Charpy impact absorption energy at 20 °C of the parent material was 299 J. PWHT at 590 °C had the effect of slightly improving the fatigue limit of the specimen but lowered the fatigue limit by 10.8% for the component specimen. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Welding and Fatigue of Railway Metallic Materials)

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12 pages, 25664 KiB

Open AccessArticle

by Park Jeongung and Gyubaek An

Metals 2021, 11(4), 642; https://doi.org/10.3390/met11040642 - 14 Apr 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6470

Abstract

The steel run-off plates attached at the start and end of a weld usually have the same material, shape, and groove as the base metal according to the rules for designing and constructing ship steel structures. However, rather than using the same grade of base steel, readily available steel is often used for these plates to increase material utilization. When using dissimilar grade steel as a run-off plate, the physical properties of the base metal may be diluted if the weld joint of the base plate is penetrated, thereby lowering the physical property value of the joint. If the physical properties of the welded part of the real structure are lowered because of the dilution of the properties of the dissimilar grade steel material, the safety of the entire structure can be affected. Therefore, in this study, analyses of the metal microstructure, hardness, impact, and chemical composition were performed on surfaces where the run-off plate was removed after welding to examine the effect of dissimilar run-off plate. The results of this study reveal that the properties of the run-off plate were not diluted toward the base metal and the Charpy impact value at the weld end was up to 48% greater than the impact value at the start of the weld at a temperature of −40 °C. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Welding and Fatigue of Railway Metallic Materials)

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