Model development for casting simulation of railway aluminothermic welding

Abstract

Aluminothermic welding has been used to connect railway rails for over a century. This technique has the advantages of flexibility, weld compactness, and simplicity. External energy is not required for the procedure. Exothermic heat is produced by chemical reactions of aluminothermic elements. To create a quality welded connection, the mold and pouring system must provide uniform pouring of hot steel without turbulence, even heat dissipation or cooling, and an acceptable micro and macro structure of steel free of internal and external faults. The design of the mould was constantly changing, necessitating costly industrial experimentation. As a result, the mould's design was constantly evolving, necessitating the use of costly experimental procedures in industrial settings. The latest iteration of the model the casting cavity was improved by adding hoes in the sand and putting rails on both sides in order to more aquratly simuate heat transfer. Software programs are emulating conventional casting procedures for thermite steel casting in welded railway connections to save money and effort on costly and timeconsuming industrial testing. For the 49E1 rail, NovaFlow & Solid CV were utilized to simulate casting thermite steel in the mould cavity or weld junction.

Keywords

• aluminothermic welding
• simulation modeling
• novacast
• welded joint