Why are Railway lines made of Steel?

Railway Bridge

Why are Railway lines made of Steel?

Steel is utilized to build railway lines because it is very flexible and can expands. Metal expands throughout the heat, as we all know. Steel is utilized because when it expands, it does not change shape; it simply becomes larger, ensuring that train travel is safe.

What material makes up rail lines?

Rails are more than just steel beams; they are a finely made technical product. Steel rails have a certain combination of different components to make the rails durable because not all steel is the same - rails are usually comprised of steel.

Steel used for railroad track is commonly hot rolled 1084 or a comparable grade. With 0.7 to 0.8 percent carbon and 0.7 to 1 percent manganese, this steel has a medium carbon content.

What kind of steel is utilized for rails?

The rails in use are built of steel that contains 0.7% carbon (C) and 1% manganese (Mn) and are known as C-Mn rail steel. It is a wear-resistant grade steel, often known as Grade 880 rail or 90 UTS rail, with a tensile strength of 880 megapascal (MPa), or 90 kg/mm [+2].

Properties:

Heat treatment works quite well with this kind of steel. It is durable, forgable, and through-hardening.

The high manganese content of this steel is one of its distinguishing characteristics. This is necessary for a good reason because it enables more thorough heat treatment.

High wear resistance and resistance to fracturing are two highly crucial properties that the steel must possess for train tracks to work properly over time.

Steel can have stronger strength qualities thanks to the deeper heat treatment. In other words, the likelihood of surface cracks propagating over time is reduced.

Trains are heavy, as you might expect, and they impose a tremendous amount of strain on anything beneath them. A track's lifespan could range from 5 to 100 years, depending on the size of the trains and the frequency of operation.

This is not to mean that the rails are left unattended for so long; rather, as the rails deteriorate, they can be "dressed" by a grinding procedure that will restore the performance of the rounded top of the rails. This will eliminate any "mushrooming," wear, or metal deformation.

Although 1084 steel is exceedingly brittle at that hardness, it can often be heat treated up to 65 Rockwell C. Around 60–62 Rc is a more preferable hardness range where the metal is sufficiently resilient to avoid fracture.

The steel has excellent wear resistance at that hardness.