What are the advantages of using heat treatment in the production of Rail Clips?
Rail clip, or called elastic rail clip, is used to fasten steel rails to the underlying tie plate. Through bending and distortion, rail clip can put pressure on the rail, which prevents longitudinal movement of the rail, either from changes in temperature or through vibration. In general, rail clips are made of forged spring steel produced by hot forging process. Because of the most uniform microstructure, the forged rail clips are considered to be better than other metal forming process.
| Name | Rail clip | |||
| Type | E clip (e1809, e2006,e2007,e2009,etc) | |||
| Skl clip (skl1,skl3,skl12,skl14) | ||||
| Or the type by customers' drawings | ||||
| Material | 60Si2MnA | 60Si2CrA | 55Si2Mn | 38Si7 |
| Chemical composition(%) | C:0.56-0.64, Mn:0.60-0.90, Si:1.60-2.00, Cr:≤0.35, P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 | C:0.56-0.64, Mn:0.40-0.70, Si:1.40-1.80,Cr:0.70-1.00 P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 | C:0.52-0.60, Mn:0.60-0.90, Si:1.50-2.00,Cr:≤0.35 P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 | C:0.35-0.42, Mn:0.50-0.80, Si:1.50-1.80, P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 |
| Hardness | For e clip: 44-48HRC | |||
| For skl clip: 42-47HRC | ||||
| Fatigue life | for Dia.18 is 3 millions cycles without breaking | |||
| for Dia.20 is 5 millions cycles without breaking | ||||
| Surface | plain (oiled), Oxide black, color painting, HDG, Zinc Plating... | |||
| Standard refers | DIN17221, BS970, GB/T1222 | |||
As a professional rail fastener manufacturer, GNEE RAIL has been producing and selling various types of railway components for many years. As one important type of rail fasteners, elastic rail clips can be divided into many types. On the construction of railroad, we should choose suitable railway clips according to different installation environment.
Heat treatment is essential for producing rail clips because it increases their strength, durability, and flexibility to withstand heavy loads from trains and environmental factors. It hardens the steel, improves wear resistance, extends service life, and enhances flexibility, allowing clips to hold tracks securely under immense pressure while resisting weathering and corrosion over many years.
Specific advantages of heat treatment for rail clips:
- Increased strength and yield strength: Heat treatment hardens the steel, increasing its yield strength to ensure the clips can hold tracks firmly under the weight of hundreds of tons.
- Improved durability and wear resistance: It makes the clips more resistant to wear and abrasion, which increases their lifespan and reduces the need for frequent replacement.
- Enhanced flexibility: The process is often followed by other treatments like tempering, which increases flexibility and ductility, preventing the clips from becoming too brittle under constant stress.
- Corrosion resistance: Heat treatment can enhance a material's ability to withstand environmental corrosion, working in conjunction with protective coatings to extend its service life in various weather conditions.
- Stress relief: It can relieve internal stresses that may have built up during the manufacturing process, which helps to maintain the clips' shape and stability over time.
- Extended service life: By increasing strength and durability, heat treatment significantly extends the service life of the rail clips.
As an OEM & OBM manufacturer, GNEE RAIL is capable of not only producing a wide range of internationally common types of rail clips, such as W Tension Clamp, e-Clip, Fast-Clip, SKL Tension Clamp, Nabla Blade, etc., but also customizing products tailored to our customers' specific requirements.
