Based on stress analysis that indicated that surface roughness causes higher contact pressure on contact surfaces, a query arises that initial surface roughness formed by rail grinding may promote the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) of rail. In order to clarify the initial surface roughness if it has an adverse effect on the RCF of rail, the authors carried out experiments by means of a twin-disc rolling contact machine and then investigated the experimental results from several views. This paper describes the details of the experiments, the variation of roughness on contact surfaces accompanied with repeated rolling contact and the influence of the initial surface roughness on rolling contact fatigue.

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