Masanobu Kubota

The analysis and prevention of failure in railway axles

Abstract Axles are one of the most important components in railway vehicle with regard to safety, since a fail-safe 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.

Effect of absorbed hydrogen on the near threshold fatigue crack growth behavior of short crack

Hydrogen is considered to be a possible energy source in the coming future. However, it has been recognized that hydrogen has a detrimental effect on the fatigue strength of metal. The fatigue crack growth characteristic is an important property for the integrity assessment of hydrogen utilization machine. In this report, the effect of hydrogen on the fatigue crack propagation characteristic was studied using low alloy steel, carbon steels and A286 alloy. Especially in this study, very short pre-cracked specimen as small as 0.03 mm deep was used and the near threshold fatigue crack behavior was studied. As a result, materials whose Vickers hardness was higher than 300 were found to be susceptible to absorbed hydrogen.

On the fatigue design method for high-speed railway axles

Abstract Fatigue failure of the railway axle, which has been a source of difficulty for engineers since railroad service started in the early part of the nineteenth century, was the beginning of the study of metal fatigue. In order to maintain the safety of a high-speed railway system, a large number of investigations and experiments have been carried out by outstanding researchers ever since, and many improvements have been made in the material, manufacturing, heat treatment and design methods. In comparing Japan and Europe on the fatigue design philosophy of the high-speed railway axle, it is recognized that there is a difference between the Japanese Shinkansen and the European TGV and ICE. The critical parts for fatigue strength are the press-fitted parts which suffer from fretting fatigue damage, such as the wheel seat, gear seat and brake disc seat. In Europe, the larger diameter of the press-fitted part makes the fillet the critical part. In Japan, however, the fatigue strength of the press-fitted part is increased by an induction hardening method. Also, a stress-relief groove is made at the closely press-fitted part of the axle. For several years, no fretting fatigue cracks in Shinkansen axles have been detected by magnetic particle inspection. It is noted that improvements over many years have been successful in achieving the safety of high-speed railway axles. These problems will be studied in this paper.

Effect of Stress Relief Groove Shape on Fretting Fatigue Strength

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of stress relief groove on fretting fatigue strength. Fretting fatigue tests and finite element analyses were done. The shape of groove was controlled by groove radius R and tangential angle θ. The depth of groove was specified by R and θ. Fretting fatigue strength was increased with an increase of θ and then it turned into a decrease. The decrease was caused by the transition of failure mode from fretting fatigue at the contact part to plain fatigue at the groove root. The transition was caused by an increase of stress concentration at the groove root with an increase of the groove depth. Therefore, the maximum improvement of fatigue strength was achieved by the largest θ limited by fatigue strength of the groove root. In the analysis, the groove generates high compressive stress field at the contact edge, where small cracks never propagate. Therefore, assumptions to relieve the contact pressure concentration at the contact edge were taken into the analysis model. The values of stress intensity factor ranges for small cracks introduced near the contact edge were almost the same between grooved and non-groove specimens.

High-Cycle Fatigue Properties of Carbon Steel and Work-Hardened Oxygen Free Copper in High Pressure Hydrogen

The high-cycle fatigue properties of 0.35% carbon steel and work-hardened oxygen-free copper in 10MPa hydrogen were studied. The fatigue limit of the carbon steel in hydrogen was almost the same as that in air. The fatigue strength at 107 cycles of the copper was higher in hydrogen than in air. The fatigue life of both materials is longer in hydrogen than in air. The reason was the delays in the crack initiation and the early propagation of the cracks in hydrogen. For both materials, the detrimental effect on the fatigue strength due to the hydrogen environment was small, however, it was determined that hydrogen participates in the slip deformation. The morphology of the slip bands was specific in hydrogen. In the copper, the slip bands, which are non-viable in air, developed in hydrogen.

Reduction in Fretting Fatigue Strength of Austenitic Stainless Steels due to Internal Hydrogen

Fretting fatigue is one of the major factors in the design of hydrogen equipment. The effect of internal hydrogen on the fretting fatigue strength of austenitic stainless steels was studied. The internal hydrogen reduced the fretting fatigue strength. The reduction in the fretting fatigue strength became more significant with an increase in the hydrogen content. The reason for this reduction is that the internal hydrogen assisted the crack initiation. When the fretting fatigue test of the hydrogen-charged material was carried out in hydrogen gas, the fretting fatigue strength was the lowest. Internal hydrogen and gaseous hydrogen synergistically induced the reduction in the fretting fatigue strength of the austenitic stainless steels. In the gaseous hydrogen, fretting creates adhesion between contacting surfaces where severe plastic deformation occurs. The internal hydrogen is activated at the adhered part by the plastic deformation which results in further reduction of the crack initiation limit.

Evaluation of local relative slip in a narrow space in hydrogen gas using MEMS optical encoder

The sensing technology to measure local μm-order displacement is requested in mechanical property testing. The sensor size should be sufficiently small to install the sensor on specimen, and the sensor characteristic should not be affected by the environment in order to evaluate the change in mechanical properties in different environments. In this paper, we will report evaluation of local relative slip range in fretting fatigue testing using our developed MEMS optical encoder and grating scale. An alignment method of the sensor is also developed.

Effect of Hydrogen on the Fretting Fatigue Properties of Metals

This chapter describes fretting fatigue of austenitic stainless steels in presence of hydrogen. The fretting fatigue strength is degraded by hydrogen and its mechanisms are revealed based on surface analysis and observations of fretting fatigue cracks and microstructures changed due to adhesion.

Behavior of Short Fatigue Crack at Notch Root

It has been recognized that the threshold stress intensity factor range Kth of a short crack is lower than that of a long crack. The short crack behavior in plain specimen has been studied by many researchers. However, the behavior of a short crack at the root of a long notch is not yet clear. The crack closure behavior is considered to be affected by the constraint at notch root and it is dependent on the length and the root radius of notch. In this study, fatigue tests on specimens with short pre-crack at long notch were done and the difference in crack closure behavior was studied. As a result, short crack effect appeared in any notch root radius. In a sharp notch, the crack opening point easily reached its stable condition after a small amount of crack extension. On the contrary in a dull notch, the opening point was lower than the stable condition and consequently short crack effect lasted in relatively wide range of crack extension. The small crack effect of notched specimen was discussed based on crack closure behavior.

Effects of hydrogen concentration, specimen thickness and loading frequency on the hydrogen enhanced crack propagation of low alloy steel

Crack propagation of SCM440H low alloy steel under varying load is enhanced by absorbed hydrogen. Substantial acceleration of crack propagation rate up to 1000 times was observed compared with that of uncharged material. The role of factors affecting enhanced acceleration was investigated by changing hydrogen concentration absorbed in metal, specimen thickness and loading frequency. Results are as follows. (1) 0.2 mass ppm diffusible hydrogen in metal was enough to cause enhanced acceleration. The predominant fracture mode showing acceleration was quasi cleavage. (2) In the case of thin specimen thinner than 0.8mm, the tri-axiality of stress is weak, and the enhanced crack propagation did not appear. However, the introduction of side-groove to 0.8mm specimen in order to increase the tri-axiality resulted in enhanced acceleration. (3) Lower loading frequency resulted in higher crack propagation rate in cycle domain. The crack propagation rate in time domain was almost constant irrespective of loading frequency. Enough concentration of hydrogen, tri-axiality and low loading frequency resulted in enhanced acceleration of fatigue crack propagation.