Nizhniy Tagil Iron and Steel Works – “EVRAZ NTMK” JSC (Nizhniy Tagil, Russia):

Kushnarev A. V., Dr. Eng., Managing Director, e-mail: director@ntmk.ru
Petrenko Yu. P., Cand. Eng., Head of the Central Quality Laboratory

“Railway Research Institute” JSC (Moscow, Russia):
Bryunchukov G. I., Cand. Eng., Head of laboratory
Sukhov A. V., Cand. Eng., Head of Department

The paper considers the problems of operation of serial locomotive wheel bands for freight electric locomotives with asynchronous 2ES10 driving motor. These problems are connected with low service life of wheel bands as well as with their insufficient reliability from the point of view of crack propagation. The medium-alloyed wheel band steel of “H” grade with increased strength and crack resistance, with the structure of tempered martensite has been developed for increase of wheel bands operation resource and their reliability. This steel provides increased complex of mechanical properties of wheel band specially for electric locomotives of new generation. The pilot wheel bands from “H” steel grade manufactured at “EVRAZ NTMK” JSC according to specifications TU 0941-309оп-01124323-2014 have been subjected to laboratorial and bench testing at the Railway Research Institute, including analysis of mechanical properties, distribution of hardness and microstructure along the cross section, evaluation of steel cold resistance, determination of wheel bands fissuring and durability as well as analysis of their stress state. The tests have displayed that pilot wheel bands from “H” steel grade provide high complex of mechanical properties, hardness, toughness, cold resistance, crack resistance and fatigue strength that are essentially higher than those properties of the serial wheel bands.