Terra Community College

Research Assignment #1
Submitted for
Course Number: MFG1!
Course Title: Materials
"nstructor: Michelle #hite
$y:
%aniel Sic&les
Clyde' ()
*+,+-1.
The /orld0s deadliest train /rec& has been attributed to a fatigue crac& in one of the train
car0s /heels and ultimately leads to derailment1 "t has been called 2schede train disaster and
too& 3lace 4une .' 1*!! in 2schede' Germany1 A33ro5imately 11 3eo3le /ere &illed and !!
3eo3le in6ured in this horrific e7ent1 "t /as re3orted that a steel /heel on the first railcar bro&e
and 3ortions of the /heel 3unctured the car floor and remained embedded1 "t is unclear if there
/ere any /arning signs 3rior to the /heel0s failure' ho/e7er' 3assengers and the conductor
noticed 7ibrations soon after and /ithin minutes the chain reaction of derailment e7ents
occurred1
The original design of the 2schede train /heel consisted of /hat is &no/n as monobloc
design1 A monobloc is a single cast /heel much li&e /hat is seen on railcars today 8(9Connor'
-:;1 The do/nside of this /heel is that loud 7ibrations caused discomfort for 3assengers1 The
noise le7el of the 7ibrations as /ell as the mo7ement in the dining cars for e5am3le' caused
glass/are to /al& off the table and 3ro7ed to be an issue1
Management instructed engineers to de7elo3 a solution to this 3roblem and they came u3
/ith a ne/ design called the /heel<tire or resilient /heel1 "t consisted of the same single cast
/heel but added - millimeters of rubber around it to act as a dam3er around the /heel body1
This seemed to sol7e the 3roblem ho/e7er' testing only consisted of data at cruising s3eeds
8(9Connor' -:;1
Guidelines for the selection of materials are based 3rimarily on strength1 Freight car
/heels ha7e the toughest 6ob among all the com3onents of a freight car1 The /heel must su33ort
the /eight of the car and steer it on the rails as /ell as bear the /eight of the car itself and the
load it is carrying1 The /heel must /ithstand constant abuse from stresses caused by such factors
as bra&ing friction and hea7y loading1 This leads to thermal 3ressure not only from bra&ing but
from friction of the /heel riding on the trac&1 The t/o surfaces are constantly heating and
cooling /hich o7er time /ill e7entually result in stress crac&s in the /heel1 Steel is the 3rimary
material used and is generally cast1
There is another 3rocess of manufacturing that ta&es 3lace by forming a solid bloc& of
metal and then a series of machines 3ress the steel into sha3e /ith immense 3ressure1 This
3rocess is &no/n as forging1 The forging 3rocess is able to 3roduce 3roducts that are stronger in
com3arison to a cast 3roduct1 The deformation due to com3ressi7e force im3ro7es the strength
uniformly throughout the entire structure of the /heel 8Channel' -*;1
Fatigue failure is defined as the tendency of a material to fracture by means of
3rogressi7e brittle crac&ing under re3eated alternating or cyclic stress of an intensity
considerably belo/ the normal strength 8metalinfo' --;1 Fatigue for these rail /heels may ta&e
some time before failure occurs and only an estimate of /hen this /ill occur can be based
loosely on intensity and fre=uency of a material that is sub6ected to re3eat loading and unloading1
Any solid material can be tested for fatigue1 Stress analysis allo/s engineers to determine the
stress in materials and structures sub6ected to static or dynamic forces or loads1
"t /as soon a33arent that dynamic re3etiti7e forces had not been accounted for in the
statistical failure modeling done during the design 3hase' and the resulting design lac&ed
an ade=uate margin of safety1 The follo/ing factors' o7erloo&ed during design' /ere
noted: The tires /ere flattened into an elli3se as the /heel turned through each re7olution
8a33ro5imately >' times during a ty3ical day in ser7ice on an "C2 train;' /ith
corres3onding fatigue effects1 "n contrast to the monobloc& /heel design' crac&s could
also form on the inside of the tire1 As the tire became thinner due to /ear' the dynamic
forces /ere e5aggerated' resulting in crac& gro/th1 Flat s3ots and ridges or s/ells in the
tire dramatically increased the dynamic forces on the assembly and greatly accelerated
/ear 8(9Connor' -:;1
The maintenance de3artment had re3orted that the 3rocedure for e5amination include
only the use of standard flashlights to 7isually ins3ect the /heels for 3otential 3roblems instead
of using metal fatigue detection e=ui3ment1 ?re7iously' the use of more technical e=ui3ment /as
thought to ha7e sho/n false 3ositi7es and /as discarded as a reliable test 8(9Connor' -:;1
%etection of material failure needs to be more than 6ust 7isual ins3ection /ith flashlights1
$y the time a 7isible failure is 3resent the material has already been com3romised and there
really /asn0t any 3re7entati7e action 3rior to the ob7ious1 A ne/ found /ay to 3redict material
fatigue has been re7ealed in the study of using 3olymer com3osites as a filler material1
"t is difficult to detect the failure of a material inside' such as stress crac&s' by loo&ing at
the outside of the material1 There may be no e7idence 7isible to indicate any 3roblem1 The use of
luminescent @inc o5ide tetra3od fillers ma&e inner damages 7isible by using ultra7iolet light1
#hen the material is loo&ed at under AB light' there are ob7ious changes in color to the
com3osite filler based on stress le7el e53osure1 The result is clear indication that a failure
3rediction can be made based on this ne/ internal 7isual indicator1
CThe luminescent features of @inc o5ide tetra3od crystals are /ell established1 According
to our /or& hy3othesis' these characteristics sho/ed 3ronounced 7ariations under a
mechanical load' and /e realised that it could hel3 to detect internal damages of
com3osite materials'C says %r1 Dogendra Mishra of Eiel Ani7ersity9s Technical Faculty1
"n one e53eriment' the scientists added @inc o5ide tetra3od sha3ed crystals to a silicone
83olydimethylsilo5ane; 3olymer and tested its general 3ro3erties1 They found that the
resulting com3osite material is on the one hand stronger than silicon and on the other
hand emits light in different colours /hen e53osed to AB light1 #hen the material is
sub6ected to mechanical stress and ultra7iolet light' the intensities of the emitted lights
and thus the colour changes1 CThe micro<nano si@ed crystals gi7e a 7isual /arning /hen
the com3osite material is about to fail under stress'C e53lains ?h% student Fin 4in1 The
alteration of the luminescent characteristics of defined semiconductor microstructures
under load << as /e could sho/ for @inc o5ide tetra3ods << might be also interesting for
many other 3hos3hor material systems1 #e e53ect further de7elo3ments in this emerging
field on 9self<re3orting materials9'C e53lains ?rofessor Cordt Gollfranc& of TAM
8(9Connor' -:;1
%etection of material failure is a difficult 3rocess and needs to be im3ro7ed1 Hi&e any
3re7entati7e 3rocess' the earlier a 3otential 3roblem is identified the better the chances of
3re7enting disasters1 ?rocesses for material selection' testing' =uality control' and 3re7entati7e
maintenance are all ste3s that need to be addressed by engineers that de7elo3 the design and
failure analysis1
References
Channel, S. (Director). (2009). How it's made, train wheels [Motion Picture].
metalinfo. (2002). metalinfo. Retrieved Set !, 20"#, from metalinfo.com
$%Connor, &. (200', Ma( '). )*chede +rain Di*a*ter. Leadership ViTS, . ",-.