A failure study of the railway rail serviced for heavy cargo trains

• The failure cause of a railway rail was investigated.
• The chevron patterns were observed at the fracture surface.
• Pearlite and ferrite networks were observed at crack origin.
• The crack was initiated from the ferrite networks.

In this case study, a failed railway rail which was used for heavy cargo trains was investigated in order to find out its root cause. The macroscopic beach marks and microscopic fatigue striations were not observed by macro and microscopic observations. The chevron patterns were observed by macro observations. The crack origin was at the tip of chevron patterns. The fan-shaped patterns, cleavage step and the river patterns were observed at the crack origin, which demonstrated the feature of cleavage fracture. The metallurgical structures at the crack origin were pearlite and ferrite networks. The crack is supposed to be initiated from the weaker ferrite networks. Given all of that, the failed railway rail is considered to be caused by overload. It is of great importance to improve the welding technology, and control the load of train in order to prevent similar failure in future.