Abstract To reproduce the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) damage of rail steel used in heavy haul railways and to clarify its possible mechanism, the RCF characteristics of pearlitic steel with different carbon content and initial hardness values are evaluated using a two-disk-type machine. The results indicate that the number of spalls and the crack depth decrease with increasing carbon content of pearlitic steel even when the initial hardness is almost the same level. Furthermore, an increase in the carbon content increases the hardness of the rolling contact surface, resulting in the suppression of the plastic flow development. Results also indicate that the crack inclination angle varies depending on the carbon content. According to these results, a possible mechanism for the suppression of fatigue crack propagation in higher carbon pearlitic steel is proposed on the basis of the fracture mechanics approach.

中文翻译：

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碳含量和硬度对重载珠光体钢轨抗滚动接触疲劳性能的影响

摘要 为再现重载铁路轨道钢的滚动接触疲劳（RCF）损伤并阐明其可能机制，采用两盘式机对不同含碳量和初始硬度值的珠光体钢的滚动接触疲劳特性进行评估。 . 结果表明，即使初始硬度几乎相同，随着珠光体钢含碳量的增加，剥落数量和裂纹深度也会减少。此外，碳含量的增加会增加滚动接触面的硬度，从而抑制塑性流动的发展。结果还表明裂纹倾斜角随碳含量而变化。根据这些结果，