PREDICTION OF THERMALLY INDUCED RESIDUAL STRESSES DURING

HEAT TREATMENT OF FORGED RAILWAY WHEEL

Raja Yateesh Yadav*

Dr. E.S.Prakash**

J.R.K. Murthy***

*
IV semester M.Tech student (Thermal Engineering Systems Technology)

University B.D.T College of Engineering, Davangere-577004, INDIA

Email: yateesh_yadav@yahoo.co.in
**
Professor & Chairman, Department of Studies in Mechanical Engineering,

University B.D.T College of Engineering, Davangere-577004, INDIA

Email: prof_esp_ubdt@yahoo.co.in

***Former Joint Director, Central Manufacturing Technology Institute, Bangalore, INDIA

Email: femsolutions@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Engineering components are often produced by processes like forging, welding, casting etc.
These processes cause undesirable residual stresses in the component which can be
relieved by further processing like heat treatment. The heat treatment process however, can
cause creep distortion at high temperature at cracking at stress concentration zone. These
processes must be managed closely to prevent thermal and residual stresses that may result
in distortion, cracking. The risk of component distortion limits the aggressive quenching
that can be beneficial to the process. As result of these distortions, adjustments must be
made to the component, pattern or die design. Straightening the components after heat
treatments can be both time consuming and expensive.
Residual stresses may reduce components overall service performance, possibly resulting
in catastrophic failure. Stress relieving may help but, expends additional energy in the
process.

All this emphasizes the importance of prediction of residual stresses before actually
carrying out heat treatment process. An attempt is made in the present work to develop and
verify an analytical model for predicting residual stresses that occur during heat treatment
of steel forgings. This problem was encountered in typical railway wheels. Finite element
approach is proposed for simulating the heat treatment process. It is proposed to carry out
transient thermal coupled field analysis and predict the maximum compressive induced
stress in the rim. The predicted results will be verified with the experimental results from
literature.

Introduction

Railway wheels have been one of the most critical component in a railway vehicle. Hence
manufacturing of railway wheels is considered as one of the important aspect. Circular steel
ingots are used for the manufacturing of railway wheels, which are called as wrought
wheels. These wheels are subjected to forging to initially shape the wheel. The forging
process cause undesirable residual stresses in the wheel, which can be relieved by heat
treatment process. The heat treatment process for railway wheel consists of five stages;
initially the wheel is heated to a temperature above the austenitising temperature of 871 C.
When once the wheel is removed from the austenitising furnace, the wheel is rim quenched
using a water spray for two minutes to produce a fine grained pearlitic microstructure and
to induce beneficial circumferential residual compressive stresses at the tread surface. This
residual stress distribution inhibits the formation of fatigue cracks in the rim and also
retards the growth of these cracks. After quenching, the wheel is dwelled at room
temperature for four minutes. Next the wheel enters the annealing furnace at 500 C for a
period of five hours. The final step in the heat treatment process involves air cooling of the
wheels to room temperature, which requires about six hours. After heat treatment process,
the wheel is subjected to Non-Destructive Testing and finally put in to the service.
During service conditions, the wheel is subjected to traction and braking loads. These loads
induce tensile stresses in the rim, which cause fatigue cracks in the rim. [1] These cracks
may finally results in catastrophic failure of the wheel. To avoid the formation of fatigue
cracks in the rim, circumferential residual compressive stresses are induced in the rim.
These circumferential residual compressive stresses are induced during rim quenching.
From the point of safety of the passengers travelling in trains, the induced residual
compressive stresses have to be measured before putting the wheel in to service.

Earlier experimental methods such as Piezo-Electric Transducer (PET) system, Electro-

Magnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT) system and Stress-induced Magnetic Anistropy
(SMA) techniques were used to measure these stresses. But these methods are expensive
and time consuming, as they need huge experimental set up. Also they require actual
manufacturing of the wheel for residual stress measurement.

An attempt is made in the present work to develop and verify an analytical model analytical
model for predicting the residual stresses that occur during heat treatment of railway
wheels. In the present work analysis begins at the point when the wheel is removed from
the austentizing furnace. Finite Element approach is used for simulating heat treatment
process and predicting the residual stresses even before the heat treatment process begins.
Transient thermal coupled field analysis is carried out and the maximum compressive
induced stresses in the rim are predicted. The obtained results are verified with the
experimental results from literature.

Thermal Model Description

A typical railway wheel is as shown in figure 1. An axisymmetric model is used for the
analysis of railway wheel since railway wheel has geometric symmetry about central axis.
Models of axisymmetric 3-D structures may be represented in equivalent 2-D form. Fine
mesh is required at the quenching zone, as temperature gradients and stress gradients are
too high in that zone. Figure 2 shows the finite element mesh for quenching simulation
 Figure 1 A typical railway wheel

Figure 2 Finite element mesh for quenching simulation

The transient heat transfer analysis begins at the point when the wheel is removed from the
austentizing furnace. The water spray quench is applied to the tread surface in for two
minutes, followed by a four minutes dwell at room temperature. Next the wheel enters the
annealing furnace at 500C for a period of five hours. The final step in the process involves
air cooling the wheel to room temperature, which requires about six hours.
 Temperature Specific Heat Thermal
(0C) cp Conductivity
(J/kg 0C) (W/m0C)
0 419.5 59.71
350 629.5 40.88
703 744.5 30.21
704 652.9 30.18
710 653.2 30.00
800 657.7 25.00
950 665.2 27.05
1200 677.3 30.46
Table 1 Material properties for heat transfer analysis.

Conduct of the heat transfer analysis requires specification of several material properties
which are dependent upon temperature, as defined in Table 1 [1]. The heat transfer
coefficients, h, between the wheel and its surroundings correspond to values used in a
similar analysis for freight wheels and have been obtained from laboratory measurements
[2]. During the quench, h has a value of 3066 W/m2 C at the tread and 28 W/m2 C
everywhere else. During the rest of the process, h has a constant value of 28 W/m2 C on all
exposed wheel surfaces. Radiation is accounted for assuming a constant value of surface
emissivity, = 0.95, for all surfaces.
Mechanical Model Description

Using the same finite element mesh which was used for the heat transfer analysis, the
residual stresses in the wheel due to the simulated manufacturing process are estimated.
The transient temperature field determined during the heat transfer analysis becomes the
time dependent loading for the mechanical analysis. Additional material properties are
required for this aspect of the calculation, and these are listed in Table 2 [1]. The software
employed for this analysis requires specification of the coefficient of thermal expansion
(CTE).

Temperature Youngs Poissons CTE s

(0C) Modulus Ratio X 10-5 at Tref
E (MPa)
24 213 0.295 9.89
230 201 0.307 10.82
358 193 0.314 11.15
452 172 0.320 11.27
567 102 0.326 11.31
704 50 0.334 11.28
900 43 0.345 11.25
 Table 2 Material properties for stress analysis. [1]
Results and Discussions

Figure 3 Hoop stress distribution (in kg/mm2) in wheel at end of rim quenching

From the literature, it is clear that rim-quenched using a water spray will produce a fine-
grained pearlitic microstructure and induces beneficial circumferential (hoop) residual
compressive stress at the tread surface. These compressive stresses are useful to prevent rim
fatigue cracks in railroad service and are thus a significant safety benefit for the user. [3]

The temperature distribution of the wheel, which is calculated in the thermal analysis (i.e.,
simulation of heat treatment process), is used as an input load for the structural analysis.
Figure 3 shows the temperature distribution in wheel at end of quench Transient thermal
coupled field analysis is carried out to determine the stress distribution in the wheel. Figure
3 shows the hoop (circumferential) stress distribution in wheel at end of rim quenching.
From figure 3, it is observed that compressive stresses are induced in the rim region.
Tensile stresses are induced at the base of the rim. Maximum compressive stress is induced
at a distance of about 10 mm below the tread surface. From this analysis, the maximum
circumferential compressive stress induced in the rim is -180.60 MPa. The maximum
circumferential tensile stress is induced at the base of the rim having a magnitude of 494.71
MPa. These results of transient thermal coupled field analysis are matches with the
experimental results from literature. [3]

Conclusion
A finite element model of the quenching portion of the manufacturing process of railway
wheels is presented. Results of the analysis reveal the presence of a 4 cm thick residual
compressive layer with stresses as high as 180.6 MPa in a rim quenched railway wheel. The
predicted residual stresses resulting from the simulated manufacturing process agree
qualitatively with experimental results from literature. From this study, we can conclude
that finite element approach is feasible for predicting the residual stresses induced during
heat treatment of forged railway wheel.

Acknowledgement
This study has been carried out as project work, which is a part of M.Tech curriculum of
Davangere University. We appreciate all the supporters.

References
[1] Gordon, J., Estimation of Residual Stresses in Railroad Car Wheels Resulting from
Manufacture and Service Loading, MS Thesis, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Tufts University, February, 1998.
[2] Kuhlman, C., Sehitoglu, H. and Gallagher, M., The Significance of Material Properties
On Stresses Developed During Quenching of Railroad Wheels, Proc. Joint
 ASME/IEEE Railroad Conference, April, 1988, pp. 55-63.
[3] Cameron Lonsdale, Francois Demilly, Valerio Del Fabbro, Wheel Rim Residual Stress
Measurements, Proceedings, 11th International Wheelset Congress, Paris, pp. 251-259.
[4] Sehitoglu, H. and Morrow, J., Characterization of Thermo-Mechanical Fatigue,
ASME PVP., 1983, Vol. 71, pp. 93-100.
[5] www.rwf.indianrailways.gov.in