Improving the performance parameters of railway wheels with the help of optimal design technologies of their electric pulse processing

Abstract

The processing by pulses of electric current (PEC) of a fragment of the rim of a railway wheel was carried out on the DS10D equipment. When the density of the electric current is from 3 to 17 A/mm2, the processing cycle consisted of the action of a pulse with a duration of 2.5-3 s and a pause between pulses of 4 s. After 150 cycles of PEC, the hardness of cold-formed metal was reduced from 10 to 20%. Studies of the parameters of the metal structure of the wheels have determined that the processing of PEC leads to a decrease in the number of defects in the internal structure, which are accumulated as a result of cold deformation of the rim along the rolling surface of the railway wheel. It has been established that, according to the nature of the influence on the hardness distribution of carbon steel, the PEC treatment corresponds to changes during tempering in the average temperature range and allows to significantly increase the operating parameters of the wheels of railway equipment.