The wheel-rail contact is an open system contact, which is subjected to various environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity, water, and even leaves. All these environmental factors influence wheel-rail wear. Classical wheel-rail wear has been extensively studied under dry and clean conditions previously. However, with changes in environmental conditions, the wear rate and wear mechanism can change. This paper reviews recent contributions to wheel-rail wear with a special focus on the influence of environmental conditions. The main part includes the basics of wheel-rail wear, experimental methodology, wear and rolling contact fatigue (RCF), and some measures to counter these degradation mechanisms.

Cavitation erosion degrades the performance and reliability of hydraulic machinery. Selective laser melting (SLM) is a type of metal additive manufacturing technology that can fabricate metal parts directly and provide lightweight design in various industrial applications. However, the cavitation erosion behaviors of SLM-fabricated parts have rarely been studied. In this study, SLM 316L stainless steel samples were fabricated via SLM technology considering the scanning strategy, scanning speed, laser power, and build orientation. The effect of the process parameters on the cavitation erosion resistance of the SLM-fabricated 316L stainless steel samples was illustrated using an ultrasonic vibratory cavitation system. The mass loss and surface topography were employed to evaluate the surface cavitation damage of the SLM-fabricated 316L stainless steel samples after the cavitation test. The cavitation damage mechanism of the SLM-fabricated samples was discussed. The results show that the degree of cavitation damage of the sample fabricated via SLM with a few defects, anisotropic build direction, and columnar microstructure is significantly decreased. Defects such as pores, which are attributed to low laser power and high scanning speed, may severely aggravate the cavitation damage of the SLM-fabricated samples. The sample fabricated via SLM with a low laser power and exposure time exhibited the highest porosity and poor cavitation erosion resistance. The cellular structures are more prone to cavitation damage compared with the columnar structures. A sample with a high density of grain boundaries will severely suffer cavitation damage.

The fabrication quality of horizontal fluid channels without supports using SLM is low, which further affects friction loss in channels. In the paper, circular fluid channels with diameters from 2 to 14 mm were built horizontally using 316L SS. The surface roughness on the top inner channel is 50–80 μm, while the rest part is approximately 10 μm. The cylindricity is around 0.2 and circularity is 0.16. The fabrication quality was significantly improved using reduced energy input with a compensation model. Friction factor measurements indicate that 75/Re is still valid in laminar flow regardless of fabrication quality. The friction factor in turbulent flow is 0.0034–0.0137, which is higher than the classical theory. Improved fabrication quality slightly reduces the friction factor. A corrected Colebrook model is developed to predict the friction factors for SLM horizontal fluid channels. Building orientation and fluid path need to be considered for reducing pressure loss.

Surface damages on rail became severe with the increase in the axle load and speed. Laser cladding was used to repair the local damages on rail surfaces to ensure the service performance and prolong the life of rails. In the present study, five types of cladding materials (304, 314, 2Cr13, 316L, and 434L) were clad at a small part (trapezoidal shape) of the rail disc to simulate the defected rail in the field. Vickers hardness tester, optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were employed to investigate the service properties of the repaired rail discs. Results indicated that all these five clad rail discs had lower wear-rates than the unclad rail disc. The wear-rates decreased with the increase in the initial hardness of the clad layer. Cracks with large angles mainly propagated along the boundary at the front edge, while at the rear edge, the crack morphology was closely related to the hardness of clad layer. 434L would induce the minimum wear loss and the modest rolling contact fatigue (RCF) of the repaired rail disc, which could be the potential cladding material for repairing the damaged rail.

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a rapidly developing metal additive manufacturing technology. SLM process parameters have a direct impact on the microstructure of parts, which further affect wear behaviors. Increasing the wear resistance by tailoring process parameters, instead of postprocessing, is crucial for enhancing surface properties of the SLM-fabricated parts with complicated structures. In this study, 316L stainless steel samples were fabricated using different energy densities by varying hatch spacing and scanning speed. The relative density and hardness were measured, and the microstructures were examined. The wear resistance was evaluated by performing scratch tests. Results show that high hardness was found in the bottom region of the samples by small hatch spacings and the highest hardness of 302.8 ± 4.3 HV was measured in the sample by a hatch spacing of 10 μm. With the increase of energy density from 178 to 533 J/mm³ by reducing hatch spacing, the fraction of cellular structures decreases and columnar structures are more likely to be aligned in a relatively constant tilted angle from the build direction, which significantly improve the ability to resist slipping and deformation, indicated by 90.1%, 45.0%, and 15.7% reductions in wear rates under 1, 3, and 5 N, respectively. With the increase of energy density from 182 to 545 J/mm³ by reducing the scanning speed, the number of cellular structures increases but pores also form, which negatively affects wear resistance.