Fracture and Fatigue Evaluation of Slot-Welded Railhead Repairs. Research Results

摘要

Slot welding is a new method that can be used to repair defects that may be present in the head of the rail. In this method, instead of using a plug rail as is done in all other defect removal techniques, the defect is removed from the railhead via machining a perpendicular slot containing the defect. The slot is then heated to a specified temperature. Once the rail reaches the desired temperature, the slot is filled using gas metal arc welding (GMAW). Any excess weld material is then ground to conform to the contour of the railhead. Based on encouraging results of this projects preliminary work, the goal of the current effort is to perfect this welding process.