TY  - JOUR
AU  - Wang, Chenyang
AU  - An, Bolun
AU  - Liu, Jiapeng
AU  - Xu, Chao
AU  - Xu, Xin
PY  - 2026
TI  - Failure cause analysis of surface burn on high-speed railway U75VG rails
JO  - Railway Sciences
SN  - 2755-0907
SP  - 720
EP  - 737
VL  - 5
IS  - 5
AB  - PurposeTo conduct a systematic failure analysis on the typical surface rail burn defects of U75VG rail steel in the straight section of a passenger dedicated line, and clarify the evolution law and failure mechanism of the damage.Design/methodology/approachMacroscopic morphology observation, scanning electron microscopy microanalysis, metallographic structure characterization, as well as comprehensive tests on chemical composition and mechanical properties were adopted to carry out the research.FindingsThe damage is a type of rail head tread burn dominated by rolling contact fatigue. The instantaneous high temperature caused by wheel-rail relative sliding during train braking converts the pearlite structure in the rail head surface layer into a hard and brittle martensitic white layer with a maximum thickness of 2.5 mm. Cracks initiate on the tread surface, propagate inward at an inclination angle of about 808, bifurcate and change the propagation direction when reaching the martensite-matrix interface, and finally lead to spalling or transverse fatigue fracture.Originality/valueA zoned differentiated maintenance strategy is proposed based on the failure mechanism, which provides a theoretical basis for the precise prevention and control of rail burn in high-speed railways.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/RS-05-2026-0037
DO  - 10.1108/RS-05-2026-0037