Application of alloys in transport

Abstract

Improving the reliability of transport vehicles requires ensuring their durability while reducing metal consumption. The life expectancy of transport systems is established in their design, ensured by sound manufacturing techniques and maintained during their operation, through rehabilitation among other measures. Improvements in vehicles and their environmental performance predetermine the ever-increasing demands on their reliability. The development of new methods for statistically evaluating the cyclic strength of metallic vehicle parts is also significant. These approaches form the basis for the creation of new technologies for the surface treatment of parts, the modification of their properties and their accompanying coating applications. The accuracy of methods for assessing technological impact on fatigue strength—endurance and crack resistance, that is—needs to be improved; this will be achieved by taking into account the microstructural characteristics of materials. The relationship between technological factors in the manufacture and refurbishment of transport equipment parts and performance also requires further attention. The development of reliable methods for predicting the strength and fracture resistance of materials in transport systems has considerable engineering and scientific value, and has been addressed in the current Special Issue.