Investigation on the Thermal Fatigue Life Evaluation Method of Railway Brake Disc with New Material

Abstract

In this paper, the thermal fatigue life evaluation method of brake disc of high-speed train with new materials was proposed based on the experimental study and the finite element computation. Moreover, the aluminium alloy of SiCp/A356 composite was used to verify this method. The thermo-elasto-plastic constitutive model of SiCp / A356 composites was established, and the fatigue life curve of material at the initial stage of crack was established based on the thermal fatigue experiment. Based on the singular element method of finite element method, the crack propagation law of cracked fatigue specimens under thermal load is analysed, and the crack propagation curve, which can be used to predict the fatigue life of crack propagation under thermal load, is established. The results obtained in this paper agreed well with the results proposed in the related literature.

Keywords

• brake disc
• fatigue crack propagation
• finite element analysis
• singular element method
• thermal fatigue life experiment