Strain-Based Assessment to Evaluate Damage Caused by Deep Rolling.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Tribology

Background:

• Deep rolling improves fatigue strength, surface roughness, and residual stress through plastic deformation.
• However, excessive or repeated plasticization can lead to component damage, particularly in critical applications like railway axles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate and quantify the damage induced by deep rolling on a railway axle under varying feed rates.
• To develop and validate a reliable assessment method for deep rolling damage using experimental and numerical analysis.
• To determine the limits of deep rolling applicability and explore optimization strategies.

Main Methods:

• Experimental deep rolling of railway axle sections at different feed rates until damage occurred.
• Numerical analysis of the experimental deep rolling process.
• Damage assessment using a strain-based damage calculation method.

Main Results:

• A reliable and conservative damage assessment method was developed and validated, evaluating damage sum around 120% for repeated tests.
• Single deep rolling at 0.25 mm/rev feed rate caused 6.1% damage, while 0.5 mm/rev feed rate resulted in 4.7% damage.
• The study provides insights into the influence of deep rolling force and feed rate, suggesting optimization through multiple passes with reduced forces.

Conclusions:

• The developed evaluation method enables investigation into the applicability limits of deep rolling parameters.
• Optimizing deep rolling parameters, such as feed rate and force, is crucial to prevent damage and ensure component integrity.
• The findings support the safe and effective application of deep rolling in enhancing railway axle performance.