Materials Science & Engineering A 722 (2018) 147–155

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Materials Science & Engineering A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

Role of crystallographic orientation and grain boundaries in fatigue crack T

propagation in used pearlitic rail steel
⁎
Mohammad Masoumia, , Edwan Anderson Arizaa,b, Amilton Sinatorac,d, Helio Goldensteina
a
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 2463, São Paulo, SP CEP 05508-030, Brazil
b
Mechanical Technology Program, Technological University of Pereira, Vereda la Julita, Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes 2231, 05508-970 São Paulo, SP CEP 05508-900, Brazil
d
Instituto Tecnológico Vale, Av. Juscelino Kubitschek 31, Bauxita, 35400-000 Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The possible effects of crystallographic orientation and grain boundary distributions on fatigue crack initiation
Crystallographic orientation and propagation were studied in used pearlitic rail steels. Microstructure and hardness variation along the depth
Taylor factor distance showed the effect of strain accumulation on microstructure modification. Although no evidence was
Kernel average misorientation shown of a correlation of inclusions and oxides with crack initiation, a high-pressure water environment entering
into a crack can accelerate its propagation. Local crystallographic orientations analyzed closed to the crack path
revealed that {110} grains oriented along the train passage plane, with a high Taylor factor and kernel average
misorientation, are highly prone to crack propagation. This could be explained by the effect of local stress
concentrations due to persistent slip bands.

1. Introduction
Pearlitic steels are representative of the strongest steels, and have
been widely used in railroad rails and engineering springs because of
their high wear resistance and strength [1,2]. It is well known that the
strength of pearlitic steels is associated with a Hall–Petch type re-
lationship with respect to the interlamellar spacing [3,4]. This is ex-
plained by a dislocation pile-up model to restrict the dislocation mo-
bility. On the other hand, the residual stress, generated from the misfit
plastic strain between cementite and ferrite, increased with the lamellar
spacing, can reduce the toughness. In a heavy-haul railway, the rail and
wheels are subjected to intense plastic deformation from vertical, tan-
gential, and longitudinal loads [5,6]. Under conditions where high
contact loads are in action, elastic shakedown is reached, giving ben-
eficial work hardening and compressive stresses, and enhancing the
monotonic and cyclic performance in the material. An excess of surface
shear stresses may cause rolling contact fatigue (RCF) damage from the
accumulation of plastic strains [6–8], which results in the formation of
a modified surface structure called a white etching layer (WEL). It has
been assumed that heat is generated at the contact zone due to friction
during wheel–rail rolling/sliding contact. It is reported that the tem-
perature at the contact region can reach 700 °C above the eutectic point
due to the energy dissipated in the contact patch associated with lo-
calization of adiabatic shear deformation [9,10]. Consequently, due to
the high thermal conductivity of the rail, martensite forms by rapid
cooling. Recently, researchers reported that the cementite dissolution of
pearlite by severe deformation and carbon decoration at ferrite grain
boundaries is responsible for WEL formation as a similar mechanism to
that responsible for cementite dissolution of cold-drawn pearlitic steel
wires [11–14]. The hard, brittle, and featureless WEL structure formed
at regions close to the running contact surface can increase the wear
rate. A large amount of surface shear deformation due to the finite
contact patch size, together with high levels of stress and friction lead to
the formation of microcracks, significantly increasing the wear and
RCF, which may cause early fracture. The development of heavy-haul
railways imposes a considerable materials challenge in terms of the
microstructural stability and wear resistance of the surfaces of rails
[5,15,16]. The aim of this work was to explore the potential effects of
the crystallographic orientation and grain boundary distributions on
the initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks. Initially, micro-
structural changes along the depth distance from the surface were
studied. Then, detailed studies using the electron backscattered dif-
fraction technique (EBSD) were performed to analyze the relation be-
tween the crystallographic orientation and prevention or enhancement
of crack propagation.

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mohammad.masoumi@usp.br (M. Masoumi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2018.03.028
Received 15 January 2018; Received in revised form 5 March 2018; Accepted 6 March 2018
Available online 07 March 2018
0921-5093/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
M. Masoumi et al.
Fig. 1. (a) Photograph of railway rail showing the head check defects concentrated at gauge corner of the head crown, (b) SEM micrographs indicating the crack fatigue path across cross-
section of the railhead.
2. Material and experimental procedures
A used pearlitic rail of near-eutectoid steel with head check defects
(Fig. 1) was removed from a 344 m radius curve after approximately 30
MTB freight had passed over it. The analyzed chemical composition of
the rail is listed in Table 1.
The microstructure of the used rail sample was investigated using a
scanning electron microscope (SEM, FEI-Inspect F50) operating at
20 kV. Before the investigations a sample was cut off from the cross-
section of the crown head. The sample surface was ground with SiC
paper from 100 to 2500 grit, followed by polishing using 6, 3, and 1 µm
diamond suspensions. Finally, the sample was etched with a 2% solu-
tion of nitric acid in ethanol (Nital) for 20 s. Electron backscattered
diffraction (EBSD) analysis was performed to investigate the local
crystal orientation and boundary distributions. Before the EBSD test,
the samples were prepared according to the standard preparation and
polished with 50 nm colloidal silica slurry for 3 h. Kikuchi patterns were
acquired by using a TSL EDAX system installed on a FEI-SEM with
20 kV, a working distance of about 12 mm and 50 nm step size. Then,
the data was processed and displayed using TSL OIM analysis 7. It is
notable that EBSD was not able to detect very fine cementite particles
within the pearlitic lamellae [17]. In addition, the variations in hard-
ness through the depth of the rail were measured by a Shimadzu (HMV-
2TADW) microhardness tester with a load of 2.97 N (300 g) for 15 s
(HV0.3).
3. Results and discussion
Fig. 2 shows the changes of pearlite morphology as a function of
Table 1
Chemical composition obtained by emission spectrometry technique of the tested rail
steel (in wt%).
C Si Mn P S Al Cr
0.75 0.22 1.03 0.019 0.005 0.002 0.21
Materials Science & Engineering A 722 (2018) 147–155
distance from the running surface. Three categories of pearlite
morphologies, namely featureless, deformed (i.e., fibrous and curly
lamellar), and non-deformed pearlite structure, were characterized as a
function of depth distance from the railhead surface. Fig. 2b shows the
heavily deformed superficial featureless WEL at about 30 µm depth
from the surface. Fig. 3 also shows the presence of a WEL region close to
the rail surface, associated with a high etching resistance to the Nital
etchant. The non-uniform carbon content in the solute solution and/or
differences in the content and size of the carbide particles can cause the
formation of non-conventional supersaturated ferrite (WEL structure).
A combination of the normal load (weight) and tractions stresses gen-
erated by the vehicle steering forces in the contact surface gives rise to
shear stresses in the rails [18]. The intense shear and the compressive
stresses introduced by train passage reduce the interlamellar spacing
(i.e. ferrite – cementite) and reorients the pearlite morphology parallel
to the axis of train passage. The extremely high dislocation densities at
the WEL generated in the contact rail surface provoke cementite dis-
solution, leading to a featureless structure. The required energy for
cementite dissolution is provided by two possible sources: i) the for-
mation of an additional area of cementite/ferrite boundaries as a result
of shear deformation [19,20] and ii) trapping of the carbon atoms by
dislocations that pile up at the ferrite/cementite phase boundaries
[21,22]. In other words, the intense plastic deformation at the rail
surface introduces a large number of dislocations so that the carbon
atoms dissolve from the cementite and then preferentially sit at the
dislocation walls in the ferrite structure, relieving the strain on the
lattice. Fig. 2c shows the distorted pearlite structure with a fibrous la-
mellar area below the superficial WEL about 50 µm below the railhead
surface. It was shown that the pearlite lamellae became thinner and
aligned along the train passage direction by increasing the loading load
and service time. Embury and Fisher [23] reported that the fibre
structure acts as a strong barrier to dislocation motion, leading to sig-
nificant increases in strengthening. The non-deformed, as-hot rolled
pearlite morphology located 1 cm below the contact surface is pre-
Ni sented in Fig. 2d. Fine pearlite with no preferred colonies orientation
0.05
was observed in this region, which is attributed to the fabrication and
heat treatment processes.
148
M. Masoumi et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 722 (2018) 147–155

Fig. 2. (a) Photograph of railway rail sample, (b) superficial WEL, (c) distorted and realigned pearlite morphology at ≈ 50 µm from the surface, and (d) non-deformed pearlite
morphology located at 1 cm below the contact surface.

Fig. 3. Microstructural features visible using optical microscopy, etched by 2% nital so-
lution.

Fig. 4 shows the variation of Vickers microhardness along the depth
distance. The results showed that the hardness decreased with in-
creasing depth distance. The superficial WEL subjected to intense
plastic deformation had the highest hardness value (approximately
574 ± 25 HV0.3). Then, a continuous reduction of hardness was ob-
served at ≈ 6 mm from the surface, reaching the value of 375 ± 5
Fig. 4. Variation of Vickers microhardness as a function of distance from the contact
surface.
HV0.3. This was attributed to the maximum shear and compression
stresses concentrated on the surface, precipitation hardening from
broken cementite particles, and work hardening at the rail surface.

149
M. Masoumi et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 722 (2018) 147–155

water drawn into a surface microcrack, pressurized by a passing wheel,

can accelerate crack growth to a greater depth.
The EBSD technique is widely used to identify the crystal orienta-
tion and measure the local strain by means of diffraction criteria re-
sulting from Kikuchi bands, providing an extensive set of crystal-
lographic data to explain the reason for crack formation. Orientation
image maps (OIM) in different areas at 0.5 mm depth from the running
rail surface are shown in Fig. 7. Colour coded OIM present the variation
of crystallographic orientation parallel to the train's running direction
(TD).
The mutual interaction of the rail and wheel in service generates
huge dislocation densities in the contact surface. The dislocation walls
and sub-grains absorb the dislocations to reduce the internal energy,
leading to the formation of a new set of ultrafine grains. Moreover, the
rotation or reorientation of subgrains during deformation generates a
high fraction of HABs (high angle boundaries). Fig. 8 shows the var-
iation of average grain sizes and misorientation angles of neighbouring
points obtained from the related ESBD data. It is notable that average
grain sizes were determined by the threshold misorientation angle of
Fig. 5. SEM micrograph of bent and fragments pearlite morphology close the micro-
defects closed the surface. 15° of neighbouring crystals. The average ferrite matrix grain size of the
as-received sample was 11 ± 1 µm. Thus, a significant grain refine-
ment occurred under intense plastic deformation due to the above-
Then, a gradual hardness reduction was observed as a function of the
mentioned mechanisms, as shown in Fig. 8. However, the cracked re-
contact patch length [24]. The hardness results are in agreement with
gions showed slightly larger grain sizes (≈ 1.6 ± 0.3 µm), accom-
the mentioned tendency. It is worth noting that the higher hardness and
panied with higher average misorientation angles (≈ 25° ± 2). The
compressive residual stress at the WEL can increase the wear resistance.
stored energy of plastic deformation can be estimated from the dis-
However, superficial microcracks can grow and easily propagate in the
location boundary spacing and misorientation angles. According to the
highly deformed rail surface because of its brittle nature, leading to
Read–Shockley equation [30], the energy per unit area of the disloca-
early fracture. For this reason, rail companies spend billions of dollars
tion boundary is directly related to the misorientation angles. Thus, a
per year to remove superficial WEL and microcracks by grinding.
higher amount of stored energy due to high average misorientation
The formation of microcracks and debris at the rail surface is in-
angles can indicate the localized strain atomic misfit energy to accel-
evitable due to the interaction of the wheels and rail. Fig. 5 shows the
erate the crystal failure.
microstructural changes (i.e., bending and fragments of pearlite la-
Material properties vary with the crystal orientation in poly-
mellae) close to the subsurface microdefects (approximately 50 µm
crystalline materials. The sequence of the orientation dependence of
from the surface). According to the Hertzian contact stress theory [24],
yield stress (YS) in a BCC structure is YS111 > YS112 > YS110 > YS100 ,
the shear stress reaches the maximum values below the contact surface
which is associated with the crystallographic interplanar spacing and
and could exceed the elastic limit. Head checks and shelling problems
surface energy of each specific plane [31–33]. Fig. 9 shows the inverse
reported by Brazilian railroads caused by the surface cracks are origi-
pole figure (IPF) parallel to the train passage direction, calculated from
nated by the subsurface shearing stresses [25]. Toribio et al. [26] and
related OIMs to characterize the distribution of local crystallographic
Guo et al. [27] explained the complicated wavy and curly pearlite
orientations based on orthorhombic crystal system symmetry with re-
morphologies by rotational movements, when the two ends of pearlite
spect to the crystallographic axes. Fig. 9 also shows the normalized
lamellae received the same compressive stress perpendicular to the
numerical fraction of some common crystallographic textures with a
rolling direction. Cementite lamellae parallel to or with a small angle to
deviation less than 2.5°. It was found that grains oriented along {111}
the train passage direction are lengthened along the rolling direction
crystallographic axes parallel to the train passage direction were pre-
and thinned in the process. Kink or shear bands also enhance the
dominant in non-cracked OIMs, while {110} grains parallel to the train
fragmenting and reorientation of the cementite layers. In addition, on
passage direction were dominant in cracked regions. Non-compact
pearlite lamellae with a moderate angle to the train passage direction,
{100} planes with the largest interatomic spacing have preferred sites
rotation is predominant rather than thinning. Therefore, curved shape
to initiate crystallographic micro-defects. Compact slip {110} planes
and wavy cementite particles are developed by increasing the strain
accelerated the propagation by dislocation motion/multiplication. Al-
induced due to the friction between the wheels and rails.
though no evidence of micro-crack initiation was found along {001}
Head checks and rolling contact fatigue cracks, which are known as
planes, the {110} planes were predominant in the vicinity of the crack
a major source of failure in the heavy-haul Brazilian railroad, were
path. The initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks were divided into
observed in the investigated sample. Because of the improvement of
four main categories by Mikulich et al. [34], i.e., crack growth along: i)
quality control in modern rail production, very fine and negligible in-
grain boundaries, ii) twin boundaries, iii) slip bands, and iv) transgra-
clusions (essentially, alumina- and silica-based) were observed. For
nular crack propagation along grains with low-indexed planes such as
example, through continuous casting processing, the newly smelted
{001} planes. Therefore, {110} planes are known as the primary slip
iron from the blast furnace is taken in the liquid from the convertor by
planes in BCC structure, leading to the activation of multiple slip sys-
employing ladles directly into blooms. This process eliminates casting
tems for a given grain, resulting in an accelerated rate of crack growth.
defects such as cracks, hot tears, inclusion, and blow holes [28]. No
The Taylor factor can predict the level of resistance to deformation
evidence was found to show any correlation between the oxides and
at a particular point and the crystal orientation for a specific stress state
crack initiation or propagation. In addition, energy dispersive X-ray
surrounded by neighbouring crystals [35]. Deformation in a poly-
spectroscopy (EDX) analyses characterized the dispersion of most
crystalline material depends on many factors such as the distribution of
oxides in the crack path (such as Mn, Al, and Si), as observed in Fig. 6.
crystal orientation, strain hardening, stress state, and anisotropy. Ac-
Environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, train speed,
cording to the von Mises criterion, at least five sets of slip systems are
track geometry, and wheel and rail profiles can cause the formation of
required for plastic deformation to occur. Slip occurs on specific crys-
oxides particles in the crack path. Bower et al. [29] explained that the
tallographic planes and specific crystallographic directions with high

150
M. Masoumi et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 722 (2018) 147–155

Fig. 6. Dispersion of oxides in crack path characterized by EDX.

Fig. 7. OIM maps for different regions at the same distance from the surface: (a, b) non-cracked and (c, d) closed to the cracked regions.

151
M. Masoumi et al.
Fig. 8. Variation of average grain sizes and misorientation angles of different OIMs (re-
ferring to Fig. 7).
Fig. 9. Inverse pole figures of each OIMs analysis and normalized numerical fraction of
main crystallographic texture (referring to Fig. 7).
atomic packing density. In BCC structure, {011} < 11U
+012B > (considered as the primary slip system) was used in Taylor
factor analyses (Fig. 10). According to the Taylor theory, the grains can
be categorized into three groups, depending on the minimum energy of
slip. First, low Taylor factor grains, which are already aligned into slip
Fig. 10. (a-d) Taylor factor maps, and (e) distribution of Taylor factor in different regions. The “a” to “d” identification is related to Fig. 7.
152
Materials Science & Engineering A 722 (2018) 147–155
systems (i.e. planes and directions) require the minimum expenditure
energy for plastic deformation (Taylor factor < 1, blue and light green
grains). Second are moderate Taylor factor grains, which can slip with
appropriate rotation (1 < Taylor factor < 3, dark green and yellow
grains). And finally, high Taylor factor or hard grains, which are not
able to rotate and to meet appropriate slip systems, are highly prone to
crack formation (3 < Taylor factor, red grains). The results showed
that the low and intermediate Taylor factors belonged the OIM a and b
(referring to Fig. 7), while the high level Taylor factor (about 55%) at
the cracked regions (Fig. 10c and d) indicates the regions highly prone
to failure. Therefore, the lack of enough slip systems restricted the
dislocation movements, leading to increasing the local stress con-
centration by dislocation pile-ups. The local stress concentration
around the crack and crystal defects promote the formation of an
asymmetric lattice disclination and enhance the crystallographic de-
fects and lattice distortion.
Fig. 11a shows the distribution of boundary types of ferrite matrix in
the pearlite structure in three regions, non-deformed (as-received) and
close to the contact surface, including: i) non-cracked and ii) cracked
regions. This indicates that the severe plastic deformation close to the
running surface changed the non-deformed structure with a high frac-
tion of LABs (low angle boundaries) into a wavy and fibrous structure
with a large number of HABs. In other words, the high storage energy
due to dislocation interaction and lattice distortion are responsible for
the formation of a new set of ultrafine grains with a high fraction of
HABs. In addition, to find an explanation for the crack formation close
to the running surface, the kernel average misorientation (KAM) was
calculated from the first five nearest neighbours with a 5° maximum
misorientation limit [36] to represent the dislocation densities in in-
dividual grains, as shown in Fig. 11b. The low KAM values (less than
2.5°) of the non-deformed and non-defective zones close to the running
surface indicated the annihilation of the dislocations and the formation
of new low-strain grains, while high KAM values (greater than 2.5°),
because of highly distorted grains with high storage energy, led to a
reduction in local ductility, facilitating crack formation.
The mutual interaction between the microstructural features (i.e.,
microstructure and grain orientation), extrinsic extension ahead of the
crack tip, and residual plastic deformation caused by crack closure ef-
fects all played a significant role in the crack growth behaviour under
cyclic loading by train passage [37–39]. The crack closure area is
considered as a compressive residual stress zone that is left around the
crack path. It is well known that the formation of microcracks and/or
voids in the plastic region ahead of the crack tip leads to propagation of
M. Masoumi et al.
Fig. 11. Distribution of: (a) boundary types and (b) KAM values in three different regions: non-deformed, and closed the contact surface including non-cracked, and cracked regions.
Fig. 12. Schematic illustration of mutual interaction between intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms of crack-tip, measured EBSD regarding each region, and variation of misorientation angle
at perpendicular direction of crack propagation.
the crack by cleavage, intergranular cracking, and microvoid coales-
cence mechanisms. The effects of lattice distortion due to residual
plastic deformation on the variation of dislocation densities and lattice
distortion in the perpendicular direction of crack propagation are re-
presented in Fig. 12. The local stress concentration around the crack
and crystal defects promote the formation of an asymmetric lattice
disclination and enhance lattice distortion. Consequently, the formation
of ultra-fine grains with a higher number of HABs leads to the increase
of the average misorientation to about 55° in this zone. Misorientation
between neighbouring points indicates the mismatch and lattice dis-
tortion, made up of arrays of dislocations due to lattice rotation during
the cyclic or tensile deformation. This is because the misorientation
angles, increased by dislocation pile-up to higher than 15°, result in the
formation of ultrafine grains. In general, the grain boundary energy and
dislocation densities increased around the crack path due to the
153
Materials Science & Engineering A 722 (2018) 147–155
affected plastic zone. As a summary, the strain energy induced by dy-
namic rotation recrystallization generates a new set of ultrafine grains
in the vicinity of the crack path. In addition, the crystallographic or-
ientations can promote the generation of dislocations, providing ade-
quate slip systems and dislocation multiplications. The effect of local
stress concentrations by persistent slip bands accelerates the rate of
crack growth, as reported by Brown [40], which is in agreement with
the results presented here, where the main slip {110} systems were
predominant around the cracked regions.
Under cyclic deformation due to train passage, lattice mismatches in
the different crystalline structure from one grain to another hinder the
dislocation movements; hence, the dislocation pile-ups are created at
random high grain boundaries. The mentioned phenomena, besides the
dislocation multiplication and dislocation–dislocation interactions on
the slip bands, enhanced intergranular crack propagation in the
M. Masoumi et al.
material [41,42]. Since a further cycling deformation intensified the
lattice distortion from the boundaries into the interior of the grains,
transgranular crack propagation can occur. The tendency of boundary
obstruction effects at random boundaries leads to intergranular fatigue
crack nucleation due to the high stress concentrations at the HABs. The
intergranular crack propagation occurs in the high Taylor factor grains,
while the transgranular crack propagation is characterized at the grain
boundaries with a high Taylor factor mismatch due to the formation of
shear bands and lattice distortions [43,44]. In addition, the combina-
tion of a large fraction of random boundaries associated with the
dominant {110} planes parallel to the train passage direction, accom-
panied by a high level of Taylor factor and KAM values (highly de-
formed grains), could enhance the nucleation and propagation of fa-
tigue cracks.
4. Conclusions
The potential effects of crystallographic orientation and grain
boundary distributions on the initiation and propagation of rolling
contact fatigue cracks in a used pearlitic rail steel were analyzed. The
main conclusions are summarized as follows:
• No evidence was found to show any correlation of inclusions and
oxides with crack initiation.
• Grains oriented along {110} planes parallel to the train passage
direction enhance crack propagation, while {111} grains showed
more resistance to fatigue crack formation.
• The pearlite lamellae became thinner and aligned along the train
passage direction with increasing loading and service time. Fine
pearlite with no preferred colonies orientation was observed to 1 cm
below the contact surface and was attributed to the non-deformed
as-fabricated process.
• The intense shear and the compressive stresses introduced by train
passage reduce the interlamellar spacing and reorient the pearlite
morphology.
• The extremely high dislocation densities generated in the superficial
WEL provoked cementite dissolution, leading to a featureless WEL
structure.
• The greater amount of high average misorientation angles and lat-
tice distortion in the direction perpendicular to the crack path in-
dicated the localized strain atomic misfit energy.
•
Grains with a high Taylor factor and kernel average misorientation
are highly prone to crack nucleation and propagation due to lattice
incompatibilities and highly distorted grains with high stored en-
ergy.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to FAPESP, the Research Foundation of the
State of São Paulo, and Vale Institute of Technology (ITV) for their fi-
nancial support.
References
[1] O.P. Modi, N. Deshmukh, D.P. Mondal, A.K. Jha, A.H. Yegneswaran, H.K. Khaira,
Effect of interlamellar spacing on the mechanical properties of 0.65% C steel, Mater.
Charact. 46 (2001) 347–352, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1044-5803(00)00113-3.
[2] M. Wu, L. Hua, Y.C. Shao, Q.J. Zhou, Influence of the annealing cooling rate on the
microstructure evolution and deformation behaviours in the cold ring rolling of
medium steel, Mater. Des. 32 (2011) 2292–2300, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
matdes.2010.11.007.
[3] M. Kazeminezhad, A. Karimi Taheri, The effect of controlled cooling after hot
rolling on the mechanical properties of a commercial high carbon steel wire rod,
Mater. Des. 24 (2003) 415–421, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0261-3069(03)
00095-5.
[4] M. Dollar, I.M. Bernstein, A.W. Thompson, Influence of deformation substructure on
flow and fracture of fully pearlitic steel, Acta Metall. 36 (1988) 311–320, http://dx.
doi.org/10.1016/0001-6160(88)90008-9.
[5] B.G. Bock, Guidelines to Best Practices For Heavy Haul Railway Operations: Wheel
154
Materials Science & Engineering A 722 (2018) 147–155
and Rail Interface Issues, International Heavy Haul Association, Virginia, 2001.
[6] K. Cvetkovski, J. Ahlström, Characterisation of plastic deformation and thermal
softening of the surface layer of railway passenger wheel treads, Wear 300 (2013)
200–204, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2013.01.094.
[7] A. Kapoor, D.I. Fletcher, F.J. Franklin, The role of wear in enhancing rail life, tri-
bological research and design for engineering systems, in: Proceedings of the 29th
Leeds-Lyon Symposium on Tribology, 41, 2003, pp. 331–340. 〈http://dx.doi.org/
dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8922(03)80146-3〉.
[8] R.L. Reuben, Monitoring of rail-wheel interaction using acoustic emission (AE),
Adv. Mater. Res. 13 (2006) 1–24, http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/
AMR.13-14.161.
[9] T.S. Eyre, A. Baxter, The formation of white layers at rubbing surfaces, Tribology 5
(1972) 256–261, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0041-2678(72)90104-2.
[10] W. Lojkowski, M. Djahanbakhsh, G. Bürkle, S. Gierlotka, W. Zielinski, H.J. Fecht,
Nanostructure formation on the surface of railway tracks, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 303
(2001) 197–208, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0921-5093(00)01947-X.
[11] F. Wetscher, R. Stock, R. Pippan, Changes in the mechanical properties of a pearlitic
steel due to large shear deformation, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 445–446 (2007) 237–243,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2006.09.026.
[12] Y.J. Li, P. Choi, S. Goto, C. Borchers, D. Raabe, R. Kirchheim, Evolution of strength
and microstructure during annealing of heavily cold-drawn 6.3 GPa hypereutectoid
pearlitic steel wire, Acta Mater. 60 (2012) 4005–4016, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.actamat.2012.03.006.
[13] F. Fang, Y. Zhao, L. Zhou, X. Hu, Z. Xie, J. Jiang, Texture inheritance of cold drawn
pearlite steel wires after austenitization, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 618 (2014) 505–510,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2014.09.061.
[14] X. Zhang, A. Godfrey, X. Huang, N. Hansen, Q. Liu, Microstructure and strength-
ening mechanisms in cold-drawn pearlitic steel wire, Acta Mater. 59 (2011)
3422–3430, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2011.02.017.
[15] P. Micenko, H. Li, Double dip hardness profiles in rail weld heat-affected zone —
literature and research review report, Lit. Res. Rev. Rep.: Improv. Railw. Weld.
(2013) 1–28.
[16] E.E. Magel, Rolling contact fatigue: a comprehensive review, Washington,
DC20590, 2011.
[17] A. Durgaprasad, S. Giri, S. Lenka, S. Kundu, S. Mishra, S. Chandra, R.D. Doherty,
I. Samajdar, Defining a relationship between pearlite morphology and ferrite
crystallographic orientation, Acta Mater. 129 (2017) 278–289.
[18] A.D. Hearle, L. Johnson, T. Street, Mode II stress intensity factors for a crack parallel
to the surface of an elastic half- space subjected to a moving point load, J. Mech.
Phys. Solids 33 (1985) 61–81.
[19] S.B. Newcomb, W.M. Stobbs, A transmission electron microscope study of the white
etching layer on a rail head, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 66 (1984) 195–204.
[20] M.H. Hong, W.T. Reynolds, T. Tarui, K. Hono, Atom probe and transmission elec-
tron microscopy investigations of heavily drawn pearlitic steel wire, Metall. Mater.
Trans. A 30 (1999) 717–727, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11661-999-1003-y.
[21] Y. Wang, T. Lei, J. Liu, Tribo-metallographic behavior of high carbon steels in dry
sliding, Wear 231 (1999) 12–19, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0043-1648(99)
00116-7.
[22] Y.J. Li, P. Choi, C. Borchers, S. Westerkamp, S. Goto, D. Raabe, R. Kirchheim,
Atomic-scale mechanisms of deformation- induced cementite decomposition in
pearlite, Acta Mater. 59 (2011) 3965–3977, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.
2011.03.022.
[23] X. Zhang, A. Godfrey, N. Hansen, X. Huang, W. Liu, Q. Liu, Evolution of cementite
morphology in pearlitic steel wire during wet wire drawing, Mater. Charact. 61
(2009) 65–72, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2009.10.007.
[24] V.H.H. Hertz, Über die Berührung fester elastischer Körper, J. Die Reine Angew.
Math. 92 (1881) 156–171.
[25] F.C. Santos, A.A. Santos Jr, F. Bruni, L.T. Santos, Evaluation of subsurface contact
stresses in railroad wheels using an elastic half-space model, J. Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci.
Eng. 26 (2004) 420–429, http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1678-58782004000400007.
[26] J. Toribio, Relationship between microstructure and strength in eutectoid steels,
Mater. Sci. Eng. A 389 (2004) 227–230, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2004.
01.084.
[27] G. Ning, L. Baifeng, W. Bingshu, L. Qing, Microstructure and texture evolution in
fully pearlitic steel during wire drawing, Sci. China Technol. Sci. 56 (2013)
1139–1146, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11431-013-5184-7.
[28] J.S. Mundrey, Railway Track Engineering, 4 edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Education,
2009.
[29] A.F. Bower, The influence of crack face friction and trapped fluid on surface in-
itiated rolling contact fatigue cracks, Trans. Asme. 110 (1988) 704–711.
[30] W.T. Read, W. Shockley, Dislocation models of crystal grain boundaries, Phys. Rev.
78 (1950) 1536–1552.
[31] D. De Knijf, T. Nguyen-minh, R.H. Petrov, L.A.I. Kestens, J. John, Orientation de-
pendence of the martensite transformation in a quenched and partitioned steel
subjected to uniaxial tension, J. Appl. Crystallogr. 47 (2014) 1261–1266, http://dx.
doi.org/10.1107/S1600576714011959.
[32] R. Blondé, E. Jimenez-Melero, L. Zhao, J.P. Wright, E. Brück, S. Van Der Zwaag,
N.H. Van Dijk, High-energy X-ray diffraction study on the temperature-dependent
mechanical stability of retained austenite in low-alloyed TRIP steels, Acta Mater. 60
(2012) 565–577, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2011.10.019.
[33] P. Błoński, A. Kiejna, Structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of bcc iron
surfaces, Surf. Sci. 601 (2007) 123–133, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.susc.2006.09.
013.
[34] V. Mikulich, C. Blochwitz, W. Skrotzki, W. Tirschler, Influence of texture on the
short fatigue crack growth in austenitic stainless steel, Mater. Sci. 42 (2006) 84–94.
[35] G.I. Taylor, Plastic Strain in Metals, 1938.
M. Masoumi et al.
[36] S.I. Wright, M.M. Nowell, S.P. Lindeman, P.P. Camus, M. De Graef, M.A. Jackson,
Ultramicroscopy Introduction and comparison of new EBSD post-processing meth-
odologies, Ultra. J. 159 (2015) 81–94.
[37] R.I. Babicheva, S.V. Dmitriev, D.V. Bachurin, N. Srikanth, Y. Zhang, S.W. Kok,
K. Zhou, Effect of grain boundary segregation of Co or Ti on cyclic deformation of
aluminium bi-crystals, Int. J. Fatigue 102 (2017) 270–281, http://dx.doi.org/10.
1016/j.ijfatigue.2017.01.038.
[38] A. Kedharnath, A.S. Panwar, R. Kapoor, Molecular dynamics simulation of the in-
teraction of a nano-scale crack with grain boundaries in α-Fe, Comput. Mater. Sci.
137 (2017) 85–99.
[39] L.L. Li, Z.J. Zhang, P. Zhang, J.B. Yang, Z.F. Zhang, Distinct fatigue cracking modes
of grain boundaries with coplanar slip systems, Acta Mater. 120 (2016) 120–129,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2016.06.032.
[40] L.M. Brown, Cracks and extrusions caused by persistent slip bands, Philos. Mag. 93
155
Materials Science & Engineering A 722 (2018) 147–155
(2013) 3809–3820, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786435.2013.798048.
[41] Z.Q. Wang, I.J. Beyerlein, R. LeSar, Slip band formation and mobile dislocation
density generation in high rate deformation of single fcc crystals, Philos. Mag. 88
(2008) 1321–1343, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786430802129833.
[42] J.R. Low, A.M. Turkalo, Slip band structure and dislocation multiplication in si-
licon-iron crystal, Acta Metall. 10 (1962) 215–228.
[43] X. Chen, Z. Liu, P. Xia, A. Ning, S. Zeng, Transition of crack propagation from a
transgranular to an intergranular path in an overaged Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy during
cyclic loading, Met. Mater. Int. 19 (2013) 197–203, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/
s12540-013-2009-y.
[44] M. Masoumi, L.P.M. Santos, I.N. Bastos, S.S.M. Tavares, M.J.G. da Silva, H.F.G. de
Abreu, Texture and grain boundary study in high strength Fe-18Ni-Co steel related
to hydrogen embrittlement, Mater. Des. 91 (2016) 90–97, http://dx.doi.org/10.
1016/j.matdes.2015.11.093.