• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.95-103
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• 2006

Wheel treads of E.M.U. are usually under a heavy thermal load by brake frictional heat between wheel and brake shoe and damaged by repeated thermal and mechanical loads. To examine the cause of wheel tread damage of E.M.U.'s in service running, a systematic approach has been used. This study is composed of three parts. Frictional heat analysis was conducted in the first part by finite element method. Two kinds of brake shoes in service were considered. In the second part, experimental study was carried out on a brake dynamometer. Temperatures were measured for the two brake shoes. And experimental study in service running E.M.U.'s was performed. Wheel and brake shoe temperatures were measured by using thermocouples and temperature indicating strips. Finally metallurgical characteristics were examined by a SEM/EDS and the cause of the wheel damage was analyzed. It seems that aggregated ferrous component is a main cause of the wheel tread damage.