Laser cladding of rail; the effects of depositing material on lower rail grades

This paper presents a study comparing the wear performance of laser clad rails. A grade of martensitic stainless steel (MSS) was deposited on two substrate materials: The European standard grade rail steel R260, and a lower grade rail steel R200. A twin-disc method has been used to simulate the contact of wheel and rail under closely controlled conditions. Although cladding on a lesser grade of rail has an effect on the hardness and wear performance of the clad layer (due to dilution), the resulting wear performance of the clad layer assessed using this approach is still vastly improved over R260 material alone. •A twin-disc method has been used to simulate the contact of wheel and rail under closely controlled conditions.•Twin-disc tests have been performed on both R200 and R260 rail after being laser clad with a single layer of MSS material.•MSS clad R200 is softer than MSS clad R260 and as a result has a slightly higher wear rate.•Clad R200 and R260 had wear rates 50% or less relative to the reference R260 sample without cladding.