Abstract:Effect of wheel material microstructure on the tribological behavior of wheel was investigated in a JD1 wheel/rail simulation facility.The results indicate that with the increase of the carbon equivalent of wheel materials,the volume fraction of proeutectoid ferrite is decreased gradually,the pearlitic colony size and the interlamellar spacing are increased significantly.The hardness and wear resistance of the wheel material is determined by its microstructure,the wheel material with a higher carbon equivalent possesses a higher hardness and a better wear resistance.The main wear mechanism of the wheel material is fatigue wear.With the increasing of carbon equivalent,the fatigue crack will initiate in a much greater probability,and propagate in greater length and depth.Also a better wear resistance of the wheel material is unfavorable to removing the fatigue crack,thus a higher carbon equivalent in the wheel material gives a poor fatigue property.