A Study on the Characteristics of Thermit Welded Rail

테르밋 레일용접의 특성에 관한 연구

CWR technology is generally believed to contribute to the increase of train speed and bring a variety of significant advantages, such as the decrease in track works, noise and vibration as well as the improvement of passenger comfort. In CWR technology, welding is considered to be one of the most important element technologies. Among the various welding methods, thermit welding is the most frequently used one for site welding since the operation is simple and the instruments are light as well as easy to deal with. However, it could cause interference with safety operation of trains since thermit welding points, are essentially made of castings and there are potentialities of defects according to the operation conditions, the environment of the site as well as the dexterity of the worker. This study tries to describe the characteristics of thermit welding, defect-causing factors and defect-detection methods at welding points.