Technology Digests / Evaluation of High-Strength Rail Properties for 2023 Rail Wear Test

TD24-001

June 20, 2024
Authors
  • Ananyo Banerjee
  • Survesh Shrestha
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Key Findings

  • Surface hardness of all seven rail types exceeded the AREMA recommended minimum value of 370 Brinell Hardness (HB).
  • The cross-sectional hardness for all seven locations of all seven rail types, with the exception of location 3 in rail type D, exceeded the minimum AREMA recommended value of 352 HB.
  • Tensile strengths and yield strengths of all seven rail types were higher than the minimum AREMA recommended values of 170 ksi and 120 ksi, respectively.
  • The percentage of elongation was found to be below the AREMA recommended minimum value of 9 percent for two out of the seven rail types for samples machined from the rail heads.
  • All seven rail types have maximum individual severity microcleanliness ratings below the AREMA recommended maximum values.
  • Impact toughness measured by Charpy V-notch impact tests showed that five out of seven rail types decreased in absorbed energy with increasing head temperature.
  • Fracture toughness was measured in the head and base of all rail types at room temperature, and the average values for head and base are 34 and 33 ksi-in1/2, respectively.

Evaluation of High-Strength Rail Properties for 2023 Rail Wear Test

In 2023, MxV Rail initiated a new rail test at their Pueblo, CO, facility in a 1,200-foot-long, 6-degree reverse curve at the Facility for Accelerated Service Testing (FAST®). MxV Rail has been involved in high-strength (HS) or premium rail testing for more than 30 years, and 2023 marked the start of a new test for the evaluation of the latest generation of HS rails in the newly constructed FAST loop. Six different manufacturers donated seven types of rails for this test, and the properites of each of these rail types were evaluated and analyzed and are documented in this Technology Digest. Some of the properties have been compared with the minimum recommended values mentioned in Chapter 4: Rail, of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) Manual for Railway Engineering.1 Results from the preliminary evaluation of the rails are discussed herein, and the evaluated properties will be used to…