Research was conducted on the welding of railroad rail with the electroslag welding process. The work was sponsored by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies under contract HSR-37. The work included a literature search, market survey and welding of 136 pound per yard rail varying voltage, current, electrode speed, chemistry, guide tube configuration, flux and cooling shoe geometry. The welds were tested by a combination of 4 point bend test, microstructure, macrostructure, chemical composition, hardness, strength and toughness. The breaking strength of electroslag welded rail was increased from approximately 170,000 pounds to 375,000 pounds in the 4 point bend. This is approximately 5% less than AREMA rail weld specifications. The running surface and heat affected zone hardness were controlled to current AREMA requirements.
Electroslag Field Welding of Railroad. High Speed Rail IDEA Project 37
2004
36 pages
Report
No indication
English