Some peculiarities of corrosion of wheel steel

Corrosion mechanism and rate of different chemical composition and structural condition of wheel steel were investigated. It was shown that “white layers”, variation in grain size and banding of wheel steel structure results in corrosion rate. Microstructure of steel from different elements of railway wheels after operation with corrosion was investigated. Wheel steel with addition of vanadium corroded more quickly than steel without vanadium. Non-metallic inclusions are the centre of corrosion nucleation and their influence on corrosion depends on type of inclusion. Mechanism of corrosion of wheel steel corrosion was discussed.