ICRI Project: Quantify Surface Damage
ABOUT
Quantify Surface Damage
Quantify Surface Damage
Lead: Daniel Szablewski, NRC-Canada
Description: The project approach consists of two stages: 1. a metallurgical analysis of RCF damage on the rail, and 2) an Eddy Current (EC) non-destructive evaluation of the RCF surface damage. Each part consists of the following:
- Development of an ‘RCF matrix’ quantifying rail running surface fatigue damage as a function of rail type and position in track, tonnage accumulation, traffic condition, as well as other environmental and maintenance conditions the rails are subjected to during their life-cycle.
- Inspection of the RCF surface damage through non-destructive EC technology in an effort to build a link between surface damage observed through destructive metallography and non-destructive EC inspection techniques.
The main aim of this research is to leverage RCF crack metallography measurements to calibrate Eddy Current probe settings and yield more accurate EC results.
Status: Paper detailing the metallographic analysis technique has been published and presented at the recent Contact Mechanics conference in Delft, Netherlands, held on Sept. 24-27, 2018. Both paper and presentation can be accessed through the link below.
Last review: 24-27SEPT18 – Presentation and Paper