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Material development
Wheelsets rank among the most highly stressed components of a rail vehicle. This applies particularly to the manifold tasks that they are required to fulfil. Wheelsets bear the vehicle weight, serve to guide the vehicle on the track, and transmit driving and braking forces to the rails.
The demands placed on wheels or wheel materials are correspondingly diverse, depending on the intended use, e.g.:
- high strength, ductility and toughness
- high fatigue limit and great resistance to rolling contact fatigue
- high threshold value with regard to crack formation and low crack propagation
- high thermal fatigue resistance and thermal shock resistance
- high resistance to heat and low susceptibility to structural changes
- low wear
- optimum residual stress state
- development of defined material properties for the various functional areas of the wheel
The steadily increasing material stresses, due for example to greater axle loads, higher speeds and increasing accelerative and decelerative forces, make ever more efficient materials necessary. We take account of these requirements by continually optimising the materials in use as well as the processes employed to machine them. Bochumer Verein is also developing new materials all the time, and for years has been successfully offering special mill grades for particular applications.