REDISTRIBUTION OF CARBON ATOMS IN DIFFERENTIALLY CHARGED RAILS FOR LONG-TERM OPERATION

Using  transmission  electron  microscopy  methods  at  various  distances from the rolling surface along the central axis, changes in  structure, phase composition, and defective substructure of the head  of differentially hardened rails were studied after passed tonnage of  691.8  million tons of gross weight. It is confirmed that prolonged  operation of rails is accompanied by two simultaneous processes of  transformation of structure and phase composition of plate-pearlite  colonies: cutting of cementite plates and dissolution of cementite  plates. The first process is carried out by mechanism of cutting carbide  particles and removing their fragments, accompanied only by change  in their linear dimensions and morphology. The second process of  dest ruction of the cementite plates of perlite colonies is carried out by  leaving carbon atoms from crystalline lattice of cementite on dislocation, as a result of which phase transformation of rails metal is possible. This is due to a noticeable relaxation of mean energy of carbon  atom  s binding to dislocations (0.6  eV) and to iron atoms in cementite  lattice (0.4  eV). The stages of transformation of cementite plates are 
considered: enveloping the plates with sliding dislocations and then  splitting them into weakly oriented fragments; penetration of sliding  dislocations from ferrite lattice into lattice of cementite; dissolution of  cementite and formation of nanoscale particles. The presence of nanosized cementite particles in ferrite matrix is noted due to their removal  during dislocation slide. Using expressions of modern physical materials science and X-ray diffraction analysis, influence of content of  carbon atoms on structural elements of rail steel was estimated. It is  shown that prolonged operation of rails is accompanied by a significant  redistribution of carbon atoms in surface layer. In the initial state, the  main quantity of carbon atoms is concentrated in cementite particles,  and after a long operation of rails, along with cementite particles, carbon is located in defects of crystal structure of steel (dislocation, grain  boundaries and subgrains), and in the surface layer of steel atoms carbon is also found in crystal lattice based on α-iron.

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