Abstract:
The interaction of the wheel and the rail, being the physical basis for the movement
of trains, determines not only such important technical and economic indicators of railway
transport as the weight of trains and their speed, the reliability and operational life of wheel
sets, but also the basis of the foundations of railway operation - the safety of train traffic.
Therefore, studies of the problems of interaction of the wheel-rail friction pair are relevant and
in demand not only within the framework of a particular wagon or locomotive depot, but also
in the country's railway transport as a whole. In this regard, it is important to note that one of
the main and most loaded elements of the undercarriage of locomotives and wagons that
directly interact with the rails are railway wheels. An important factor in the development and
implementation of new surface hardening technologies is: firstly, rising prices and
corresponding costs for the production of metal products for wheels with high energy
consumption, secondly, increasing costs for spare parts, maintenance and overhaul of wheel
sets; thirdly, the rise in prices for energy carriers and transportation costs for their delivery;
traditional heat treatment is almost impossible to achieve.
