In recent times, railroad spike is an indispensable component for ensuring the safety of railway transportation. With the different requirements of railroad spikes, materials are also important in the use of spikes. In railway industry, steel can be worth experimenting with. There are many different types of steel used such as carbon steel, rebar, leaf and coil spring steel etc. Among them, carbon steel and structural steel play an important role for making railroad spikes. So, what materials are railroad spikes made of?
Carbon steel
Carbon steel is the Iron-carbon alloy steel with carbon content less than 2%. Besides the carbon content, there are still a little silicon, manganese, sulfur and phosphorus existed in the steel. Carbon steels are often galvanized, through hot-dip or electroplating in zinc for protection against rust.
According to the application, carbon steel can divided into carbon-structural steel, tool carbon steel and free-cutting structural steels. In the other hand, carbon steel can also be classified into low carbon steel(WC≤0.25%), medium carbon steel(WC0.25%~0.6%) and high carbon steel (WC>0.6%).
Types of carbon steel
Low carbon steel
Low carbon is the steel whose carbon content less than 0.25%. Low price makes it become the most common form of steel for many different applications. What's more, the low carbon content makes it ductile and malleable. As to the density, it is usually approximately 7.85g/cm3(7850kg/m3 or 0.284lb/in3). What's more, low carbon steel has a low tensile strength and surface hardness can be increased through carburizing.
Medium carbon steel
Medium carbon steel is the steel with carbon content approximately 0.3-0.6%. The features of balances ductility and strength make medium carbon steel widely used for large parts, forging and automotive components.
High carbon steel
High carbon steel is very strong because of the 0.7-2.5% carbon content. It is mainly used for springs and high-strength wires.
Ultra-high carbon steel
As we all know, with more than 2.5% carbon content, the steels are always made for using powder metallurgy. In this condition, the steels can be tempered to great hardness, which made it convenient for special purposes such as knives, axles or punches.
Types of Railroad Spike
| Type | Ss5, Ss 8, Ss25, Ss36, UIC864-1 Series, etc |
| Raw material | Q235, 35 steel, 45steel, 40Mn2, 20 Mn Si |
| Grade | 4.6, 4.8, 5.6, 8.8 |
| Surface | plain(oiled), black paint, color paint, zinc, HDG, etc |
| Specification | Material | Surface | Standard |
| 5/8*6 '' | A3,Q235, 45#,55#, etc | According to customer needs. | According to customer's drawings or samples. |
| 9/16*5-1/2 '' | |||
| 3/8''*3-1/2 '' | |||
| 1/2*3-1/2 | |||
| Other kinds |
