THERMITE RAIL WELDING WITH INOCULANTS

Abstract

In this paper, thermite welding of rails with and without inoculants was performed. Ultrasonic defec­toscopy, metallographic analysis and hardness testing of the welds were performed. In all three samples, higher weld metal hardness was measured compared to the control sample. Generally, in the area of weld metal, the highest hardness was recorded in sample number one, which contains the smallest amount of added titanium dioxide TiO₂ nanoparticles of 0,72 g. The main reason for this is the modification of microstructure related to the absence of intragranular idiomorphic ferrite in modified specimens.