Influence of mold preheating on railway aluminothermic welding casting simulation

Abstract

Railway rails have been linked using the aluminothermic welding process for over a century. This method has several advantages, including flexibility, compactness of the weld, and ease of execution. It is not necessary to employ outside energy to complete the procedure. It is provided by the exothermic effect of the chemical reactions of the aluminothermic combination's elements. The design of the mold with the pouring system, which should ensure even pouring of thermal steel without turbulence, then even heat dissipation or cooling in order to obtain an appropriate micro and macro structure of steel, free of internal and external defects, is an important factor in producing the required quality welded joint. As a result, the mold's design was constantly evolving, necessitating the use of costly experimental procedures in industrial settings. In this 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 being used to simulate conventional casting procedures that can be used in the casting of thermite steel during the fabrication of welded railway connections in order to prevent costly and time-consuming industrial experimentation. The NovaFlow & Solid CV software package was used to simulate casting thermite steel in the mold cavity, i.e. in the weld joint, for the 49E1 rail.