Laser hardening of axles to increase resistance to fatigue fractures

Němeček Stanislav - RAPTECH s.r.o. (Czech Republic)

The axles of rolling stock are connected to the wheels by cold or hot pressing. Fatigue fracture damage and fatal consequences can occur on the axle seat due to cyclic loading during operation. The stress on the axle seats has the character of both high-cycle fatigue and frictional corrosion fatigue. The project developed a technology for laser processing of axles made from EA1N steel, which introduces high compressive stresses to critical points and thus slows down the initiation stages of microcrack formation. The paper describes the technology of laser processing and problems during solving, experimentally verifies the effect of stress on the fatigue behavior of the material. The success of the solution is documented by the final fatigue test on a real track axle.

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