Failure analysis of three reconditioned rail car couplers |
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Authors: | V E Kahle |
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Affiliation: | (1) Padmanava College of Engineering, Sector 4, Rourkela, 769 002, India |
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Abstract: | Three reconditioned rail car couplers, arbitrarily identified as couplers, failed during service due to cracking of the front
face. The three couplers were reportedly upgraded by quenching and tempering to enhance strength and toughness. The objective
of this investigation was to determine the mode of crack propagation and the root cause of the observed failures.
Verl E. (Bud) Kahle, P.E., was a professional failure analyst for more than forty years. After receiving his Bachelor of Science
degree in physical metallurgy from Washington State University 1957, Bud was employed by the General Electric Company at a
facility in Hanford, Washington. He later was employed by the Aerojet General Corporation and eventually was head of the Southern
Pacific Materials Science Laboratory in Sacramento. After retirement from Southern Pacific he owned and operated his own firm,
Kahle Metallurgical Consulting Services, for fifteen years. He came to be known as “the man with the answers” to clients in
a variety of industries. Bud was a Life Member of ASM International.
Many of Bud’s clients remarked on the high quality of his failure analysis case histories and encouraged him to have them
published. After Bud passed away in 1999, his wife, Suzanne, approached ASM International to see if the society would be interested
in publishing any of his work. Mrs. Kahle was able to supply a large number of reports, which Bud had carefully archived over
the years. Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention Associate Editor Michael Stevenson read through the collected case histories, selected the ones to be included in this issue,
and edited them for journal publication.
ASM International wishes to thank Mrs. Kahle for providing these case histories for publication. |
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Keywords: | brittle fracture couplers cracking behavior railroad industry steel |
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