In order to study the effect of rolling process on wheel friction and wear and contact fatigue performances,two kinds of wheel materials formed by rolling process and direct molten steel casting were selected,and their friction and wear and contact fatigue performances were studied by using GPM-30 testing machine.The friction and contact fatigue crack initiation and propagation behavior of the wheel materials under different state of contact stress was analyzed by optical microscope,scanning electron microscope,ASPEX analyzer,and ZEISS Sigma 500 EBSD.The results show that rolling technology can effectively refine the grain size of wheel material,decrease pearlite regiment and pearlite lamellar spacing, improve the microstructure of wheel,reduce the uneven plastic deformation,inhibit the initiation and propagation of cracks,reduce wear and prolong the contact fatigue life of wheel material.It is found that the subsurface crack initiation in contact fatigue test is closely related to the morphology of inclusions.