Effect of Heat Treatment Process on the Microstructure and Hardness of Train Wheel Material

Abstract

The effect of heat treatment process on the microstructure and hardness of train wheel material was investigated. The railway wheel material was prepared by a casting process from used train wheel and followed by heat treatment processes namely normalizing, flame hardening, and tempering. The normalizing process at a temperature of 850 °C with a holding time of 120 minutes followed by air cooling has resulted in hardness of 24 HRC. The flame hardening process at a temperature of 800 °C with a holding time of 1 minutes followed by water quenching has resulted in hardness of 57.33 HRC. The tempering process at a temperature of 500 °C with a holding time of 60 minutes followed by air cooling has resulted in a final surface hardness of 34 to 37 HRC that complies with the standards.