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Journal of Metallurgical Engineering (ME) Volume 3 Issue 2, April 2014

doi: 10.14355/me.2014.0302.03

Simulation Analysis on Temperature Field

and Microstructure Field of 60AT Rail in Air
Cooling
Lin Chen*1, Zeyuan Li2, Guo Chang3, Zhiyang Zhang4, Fang Zhang5
School of Materials & Metallurgy, Inner Mongolia University of Science & Technology
BaoTou, Inner Mongolia, 014010, China
chenlin39805@163.com; 2imustlzy@vip.qq.com; 32007changguo@163.com; 593837142@qq.com; 995583190@qq.com

*1

Abstract:
In this paper, the DEFORM-3D finite element software is
used to construct the models of temperature and
microstructure fields of the 60AT rail during the air cooling
process after rolling, with the distribution regularities of
temperature and phase-transformation in air cooling
analyzed. The computation results suggest that the
temperature distribution along the cross section of the 60AT
rail is significantly influenced by its rail web with great
volume-to-surface-area ratio. At 150s during the air cooling
process, there is no phase change on the cross section of the
60AT rail, with all phase that appears to be austenite. At 650s
with the temperature dropped, the almost all the cross
section of the rail has been turned into pearlite, with the
changing rate of 97.2%. The pearlite phase change happens
from the three edges of the railhead and the long and short
wings of the rail flange to the railhead and the rail web, until
the whole cross section of the rail is changed.
Keywords
60AT Rail; Air Cooling; Temperature Field; Microstructure Field;
Numerical Simulation

Introduction
The railway as the major part of the transportation
system of China is composed of the subgrades, tracks,
turnout junctions, bridges and tunnels, among which
the turnout junction is a critical part of the railway
track equipment. In the high-speed and high-load
railway transportation system of China in the 21st
century, the turnout tracks have increasingly been
built by special section rails, or AT rails, featured by its
advantageous characteristics of high rigidity, high
wearingresistance, safety and long service life, etc [1].
The interaction between the temperature field and the
microstructure field of the 60AT rail during the aircooling process after rolling is crucial to the quality of
the next process, i.e. the straightening process.
Therefore these two fields are coupled for computa78

tion by the DEFORM-3D finite element software (TTT

curve method and CCT curve method [2], [3])to
analyze the change pattern of the two fields during the
air-cooling process, which is of great significance in
the quality improvement of 60AT rail.
Here the application of TTT curve method is mainly
described. Using TTT curve method to solve the
problem of phase transition in the process of
superposition, Hildenwall the first who put forward in
the late 1970s, this method has been widely recognized
by scholars[4], [5]. Thanks to Davenpore and Bain[6],
quantitative calculation of phase transformation has
achieved a major breakthrough in the field. They first
studied the kinetics of isothermal transformation and
TTT diagram. Since then, as people research into the
dynamics of phase transformation, more accurately
calculated amount of phase transformation of mathematical formulas was summarized, such as Avrami
equation. This equation can be directly applied in
isothermal transformation as well as the process of
continuous cooling transformation calculation, and
satisfactory results were obtained. In actual use of TTT
curve continuous cooling process, the need will be
discrete time[7], the equivalent into piecewise continuous
cooling of the cooling process, for each discrete time
can be dealt with by the isothermal transformation.
Scheil using superposition method can solve the
problem of stepped isothermal transformation of
superposition.
Model Construction Based on DEFORM-3D
Material Selection
The material of the 60AT rail for simulation
computation is U75V, with the carbon content of 0.74%,
below 0.77%, which makes it the hypo-eutectoid steel.
The specific chemical composition of the material is
presented in Table 1.

Journal of Metallurgical Engineering (ME) Volume 3 Issue 2, April 2014

TABLE 1 CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF

U75V STEEL RAIL[8]

Mesh Generation

Element

Si

Mn

Content %

0.741

0.762

0.821

0.014

0.028

0.071

Solid Modeling
A 500 mm-length model of the 60AT rail is constructed
by the 3-D forming software Pro/E, which is then
imported into the DEFORM-3D finite element
software to simulate the air-cooling process, with the
initial temperature of 900C and the ambient
temperature of 20C. The air-cooling heat transfer
coefficient is set as the comprehensive heat transfer
coefficient of the rail surface. The asymmetric cross
section of the rail can not be simplified by crosswise
symmetric treatment; however, for the convenience of
calculation, it is applicable to set a symmetric surface
along the long axle of the rail to construct a 1/2 model
of it for simulation calculation; and the symmetric
plane is set as the +x surface, and the calculation result
applies to the 1000 mm-length 60AT rail. The
competed 60AT rail model is placed upright on the
air-cooling table, as shown in Fig. 1.

FIG. 1 60AT RAIL MODEL

FIG. 2 MESH GENERATION FOR 60AT RAIL MODEL

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In this paper, the tetrahedron elements are used for

mesh generation of the model. The cooling table is set
as a rigid body, and the 60AT rail as an elastic plastic
body. The mesh generation brings 26164 joints and
115351 elements in the rail, among which the red ones
are marks of the longitudinal symmetric surface. The
finite mesh model of the 60AT rail is shown in Fig.2.
Analysis on Results of Air-Cooling Simulation
for 60AT Rail
Temperature Field Result Analysis
The temperature nephograms on the central section
(the symmetric plane along the +x direction) of the rail
at different moments are shown in Fig.3.
It can be seen from Fig.3 (a) that at 150s the central
section temperature of the rail is distributed in layers
from inside out, where the temperature in the central
part of the rail is the highest, which runs increasingly
lower outward, with the holistic maximum
temperature of 842C and the minimum temperature
of 670C on the cross section. The volume-to-surfacearea ratio of the railhead and the rail web is greater
than that of the rail flange, which endows the former a
greater thermal capacity. It can be seen that the redcolored high-temperature (820C~842C) zone is
concentrated at the railhead and the rail web, taking
36.8% of the whole cross section area.
It can be seen from Fig.3 (b) that at 350s the
temperature of the rail also distributed in layers from
inside out, yet not as clearly layered as the 150s status,
with the maximum temperature of 739C and the
minimum temperature of 552C along the cross section,
and the red area has a relatively higher temperature
ranging 716C~739C. Unlike the 150s status, also the
general temperature of the rail section is dropping, the
red area is expanded, taking 47.9% of the whole cross
section; also expansion appears for the orange-colored
sub-high temperature area (693C~716C), which
almost takes the whole surface of the railhead and the
rail web, along with most part of the middle flange.
Small red zones also emerge at the longer wing of the
flange and the joint of the rail web due to the
temperature rise caused by the latent heat of phase
change.
It can be seen from Fig. 3 (c) that the temperature
distribution along the cross section of the rail at 500s is
very similar to that at 350s, with the maximum
temperature of 725C and the minimum temperature
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Journal of Metallurgical Engineering (ME) Volume 3 Issue 2, April 2014

FIG. 3 TEMPERATURE NEPHOGRAM OF 60AT RAIL IN AIR COOLING PROCESS

(a)Air-Cooling at 150s (b) Air-Cooling at 350s (c)Air-Cooling at 500s (d) Air-Cooling at 600s (e) Air-Cooling at 650s (f) Air-Cooling at 1500s

of 488C, and the relatively high-temperature of

696C~725C in the red zone, which is further
expanded to 58.9% of the whole cross section. The web
part is also taken by the red zone due to the increasing
latent heat released by the expanding phase-changing
zone; the heat is transferred to the railhead and the rail
flange, which further expanded the red zone.
It can be seen from Fig. 3 (d) that at 600s, the layered
temperature distribution remerges clearly on the
central-section of the rail from inside out, with the
maximum temperature of 724C and the minimum
temperature of 455C, and 690C~724C for the red
zone, which is basically compatible with the
temperature field pattern at 500s, suggesting a phasechanging plateau at that moment. The coverage of the
red zone at 600s is shrunk to 36.5% compared to that at
500s, with the major part of the red zone stretched
from the middle railhead to the joint of the flange, still
taking most part of the rail web, suggesting the phase
change has been completed on the railhead surface
and the rail flange, while such change is still in
progress inside the railhead and the rail web.
It can be seen from Fig. 3 (e) that the temperature
distribution on the central section of the rail at 650s is
basically the same of that at 600s, with the maximum
temperature of 720C and the minimum temperature
of 440C, and 685C~720Cfor the red zone.
It can be seen from Fig. 3 (f) that temperature
80

distribution on the central section of the rail at 1500s

appears to be in layers from top to bottom, with the
maximum temperature of 416C and the minimum
temperature of 280C, and the red zone takes 49.1% of
the whole section. The phase change process has been
completed through the whole section at 1500s, and the
temperature change is only a result of heat exchange
between the rail and the air.
Fig. 3 in general presents the temperature distribution
though the whole process of air cooling is correlated
with the special section shape of the 60AT rail, in
which the red zones are mainly distributed at the
railhead and the rail web from the beginning of the
cooling to the end of it, seriously varied from the
temperature distribution pattern of the ordinary 60
steel rails during the air-cooling process [9].
Microstructure Field Result Analysis
The microstructure nephograms on the central section
(the symmetric plane along the +x direction) of the rail
at different moments are shown in Fig.4.
It can be seen from Fig.4 (a) that the phase change has
not begun on the central section of the rail at 150s,
with the whole organization as austenite. Temperature
field computation suggests that at that moment the
temperature on the section is relatively high with the
maximum temperature of 842C and the minimum
temperature of 670C; the railhead surface cooling rate
from 0s to 150s is 0.75C/s, and the rail web cooling

Journal of Metallurgical Engineering (ME) Volume 3 Issue 2, April 2014

rate is 0.63C/s; the cooling rate at the longer wing of

the rail flange is 1.37C/s, and that at the shorter wing
is 1.29C/s. Judging from the calculation result of the
CCT curve and the temperature field of the rail, these
cooling rates have not been changed during the first
150 seconds.
Fig. 4 (b) suggests pearlite phase change occurred on
the central section of the rail at 350s, with the
maximum temperature of 739C and the minimum
temperature of 552C, as suggested by the temperature
field calculation results. At that moment, pearlite
appears mainly along the three edges of the railhead
and the shorter and longer wings of the rail flange,
while most part of the railhead, rail web and middle
flange are still austenite, with the change rate of 22.1%.
Such distribution of phase change can be explained by
the higher cooling rate at the three railhead edges and
the longer and shorter wings of the flange that reach
the phase-changing temperature sooner; while the

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railhead close to the edges of the rail web is at higher

temperature with lower cooling rate, resulting in
scarce phase changes.
It can be seen from Fig.4(c) that the pearlite phase is
expanding toward the inside of the rail at 500s, with
the maximum temperature of 725C and the lowest
temperature of 488C on the rail section. 70.9% of the
austenite has changed into pearlite. At the railhead the
red-colored pearlite phase change zone has expanded
13 mm below the wheel tread; at the rail web the red
zone has expanded 7 mm beneath the surface at most.
The rail flange has almost completely changed into
pearlite except the joint with the rail web.
It can be seen from Fig.4 (d) that at 600s the coverage
of the austenite-changed pearlite has further grown to
88.4% of the whole rail section, with the maximum
temperature of 724C and the minimum temperature
of 455C. Most part of the railhead has completed the
phase change, except a small belt inside that hasnt

FIG. 4 ORGANIZATIONAL NEPHOGRAMS OF 60AT STEEL RAIL IN AIR COOLING PROCESS

(a) Air-Cooling at 150s (b) Air-Cooling at 350s (c) Air-Cooling at 500s (d) Air-Cooling at 600s (e) Air-Cooling at 650s (f) Air-Cooling at 700s

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Journal of Metallurgical Engineering (ME) Volume 3 Issue 2, April 2014

start or with only traces of phase change. The red zone

has expanded 25 mm beneath the wheel tread, and
covered most part of the rail web. The unchanged part
or those with small changes are connected to the
central part of the railhead. At that moment the red
zone has expanded 14 mm beneath the surface of the
rail web, and has consumed the rail flange completely.
It can be seen from Fig. 4 (e) that at 650s, the central
section of the 60AT rail has almost completed the
phase change from austenite to pearlite, with only a
small uncompleted part left at the joint of the railhead
with the rail web, yet there is no area that hasnt been
engulfed by phase change. 97.2% of the rail section
changed into pearlite, with the maximum temperature
of 720C and the minimum temperature of 440C. The
red zone in the railhead has expanded 36 mm beneath
the wheel tread, and 20 mm beneath the rail web
surface. The small uncompleted part at the joint of the
railhead with the rail web is the last part on the rail
section that hasnt been completely changed,
suggesting it as the part with the lowest cooling rate,
which is in conform with the temperature field
calculation results.
It can be seen from Fig. 4 (f) that at 700s, the rail
section has been completely changed from austenite to
pearlite.
Conclusions
1) The air-cooling process of the 60AT steel rail is
completed in three stages, i.e. the pre-(phase) change
stage, the changing stage and the post-change stage.
The regularly layered pattern of temperature
distribution appears though the whole process of aircooling is the result of the asymmetric shape of the rail
section. The red-colored zone with relatively high
temperature is mainly distributed at the railhead and
the rail web from the beginning to the end of the
cooling process. Calculation results suggest that the
high volume-to-surface-area ratio of the rail web is a
major factor that influences the temperature
distribution on the rail section. After the moment of
1500s, the red-colored zone with relatively high
temperature has engulfed the railhead and the rail
web into a large high-temperature zone.
2) Phase change hasnt been started at 150s on the rail
section, with the whole organization appearing as
austenite. The pearlite change starts at 350s along the
three edges of the railhead and the longer and shorter
wings of the rail flange, while most part of the
railhead and the middle parts of the rail web and

82

flange remain as austenite, with the phase change rate

of 22.1%. At 500s, the change rate has been increased
to 70.9%, with the red-colored phase-change zone
expanded 13 mm beneath the wheel tread in the
railhead, and 7 mm into the rail web; at that moment
the rail flange has been almost completely changed
into pearlite except at the joint with the rail web. At
650s, the phase change on the central section of the rail
has been basically completed, with the change rate of
97.2%.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

China National Natural Science Foundation(51361021);

The Major Project of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region Natural Science Foundation(2012ZD09);
The Scientific Research Project of the Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region Higher Education(NJZZ12099).
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