Grinding Techniques, a well-known abrasive company and part of the Tyrolit group, has been supplying abrasive solutions to the railway market for years. With specialised grinding products exported to satisfied customers worldwide, it is able to offer an extensive range of high-quality railway grinding wheels. All of Grinding Techniques’ products are manufactured in accordance with international standards (ISO, EN and OSA).
Railway technology has improved significantly over the centuries, starting with wooden rails first introduced in the early 1500s, moving on to cast iron plates fixed to the upper surface of wooden rails that increased durability and load-bearing by the Colebrook Company in the 1790s, to the late 1780s where L-shaped metal plates – better known as plateways – were introduced.
Through the years, the advancement continued as it worked its way through all-iron edge rail and variations of cast and wrought iron. Today, we make use of superior all-iron rail, with a high manganese content that allows for high wear and fracture resistance.
To keep up with increasing railway innovation, abrasive technology constantly has to adapt and change to meet the demanding task of grinding these superior rails.
Aluminium Oxide, Zirconia Alumina and Ceramic Alumina have become some of the latest raw materials to be mixed and bonded into various formulas for optimum performance during rail maintenance. As hard-wearing, durable rails are heat treated with a maximum Carbon percentage of up to 0.82, and a maximum Manganese percentage of up to 1.7, it is of utmost importance to ensure a product is used for maintenance that not just delivers optimum results, but also ensures rails remain durabile throughout their lifetime.
Grinding Techniques carries a range of ANDOR grinding wheels specifically manufactured for railways that deliver fast stock removal, longevity and durability.
Grinding Techniques’ Research and Development Team is constantly testing and reviewing products to ensure it delivers the best results, regardless of specific customer needs or harsh working conditions.
Rail transport in Australia is a vital aspect to the overall transport network. The Australian railway network consists of 36,064km (as of 2018) of track utilising three types of gauges.
14,818km of standard-gauge, 15,625km of broad-gauge with the balance made up of metre-gauge and narrow-gauge.
The only way to keep all of this railway in good operating condition and ensuring railway longevity, is regular railway grinding maintenance.
Effectively, when done regularly and efficiently, this will eliminate multiple defects like:
- Gage corner shelling (a progressive internal separation that can crack out)
- Spalling (localised degradation commonly found at the gage corner of the high rail)
- Side wear (wearing at the side of the rail head which wears with the train wheels because of the interaction that can lead to profile change of the rails)
- Plastic flow (also known as bodily deformation that results from high loading and tangential to the wheel/rail contact)
- Corrugation (uneven but regular corrugation shape of wear, either from elastic sliding or vibration)
- Rolling contact fatigue (cracks in the rail head that occurs over time, which if not treated can propagate its way into the rail web, a precipitating factor of a rail break)
When it comes to any and all railway grinding, ANDOR is the preferred rail maintenance partner. With several machine manufacturers used in railway maintenance, Grinding Techniques features the technology, capabilities, backup and inputs to produce some of the best quality abrasive products available on the market to suit all of the rail equipment grinding consumable requirements.
The ANDOR range doesn’t only feature the most common shapes used in rail grinding, but also allows for wheels to be customised according to specific customer requirements.
Three most popular wheels are illustrated below with an indication of their positions on the rail during the grinding process. Journey to the future by making ANDOR your best asset in railway grinding and join the evolution of railways.
This partener content was brought to you by Grinding Techniques. For more information, please visit https://www.grindtech.com/.
