Influence of Ultrasonic Peening on Wear Resistance of U70 Rails

The surface of U70 rails was treated by ultrasonic peening method. Keeping the electric current 1.5 A, the amplitude 24 µm and the frequency 10000 HZ during the treatment, the peening duration was 10 min, 20 min, 40 min and 60 min respectively. The wear property, wear appearance, and structural appearance of specimens have been studied by M-2000 wear tester and 6360LA scanning electron microscope. Results show that ultrasonic peening treatment can significantly improve the wear resistance of U70 rails, and the longer the peening duration, the stronger the wear resistance. The wear mass loss of the specimen with 60 min treatment is only 27 % of the one untreated. The reason is that ultrasonic peening can form plastic deformation zones. The depth of plastic deformation zones increases with the peening duration. The depth of plastic deformation zones of the specimen with 60 min treatment is nearly 100 µm. Longer peening duration means severer plastic deformation. In the plastic deformation zone, ferrite is refined to smaller grains so that the matrix is strengthened.