Papers Published

1. Gerstle, F.P., Jr. and Follansbee, P.S. and Pearsall, G.W. and Shepard, M.L., Thermoplastic shear and fracture of steel during high-velocity sliding [rocket-sled testing], Wear (Switzerland), vol. 24 no. 1 (1973), pp. 97 - 106 .
   (last updated on 2007/04/10)

   Abstract:
   A steel rail, severely gouged during a rocket-sled test, was the focus of an investigation of the microstructural changes which occur during high-velocity, sliding contact. Metallographic analysis of the damaged rail indicated that the mechanism of gouging probably was a crude machining process in which the sled shoe played the role of a tool. Cracks in bands of martensite and severely distorted pearlite regions were the principal microscopic features of the subsurface damage; the overall configuration of the pattern of cracks and martensite bands suggests that they formed as a result of catastrophic thermoplastic shear

   Keywords:
   dynamic testing;fracture;materials testing;metallography;steel;wear;