Cyclic Fracture Toughness of Railway Axle and Mechanisms of its Fatigue Fracture

The main regularities in fatigue fracture of the railway axle material - the OSL steel - are found in this paper. Micromechanisms of fatigue crack propagation are described and systematized, and a physical-mechanical interpretation of the relief morphology at different stages of crack propagation is proposed for fatigue cracks in specimens cut out of the surface, internal and central layers of the axle.