STUDY OF A PLASMA TORCH FOR IMPROVING ADHESION. LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS TO SIMULATE RAIL SURFACES

The laboratory tests described in the previous partial report (B114/RP 3) have now been completed. They confirm that the plasma torch improved adhesion more by eliminating the pollution caused by oil, than by modifying the chemical properties of the metal. In the case of certain particularly dense films of oil, an improvement in adhesion may require the torch to be used several times, and its efficacity decreases if the surface of the rail is rough, or covered with foreign matter. Although the water on the rail surface may have been evacuated to the side by air pressure, the quantity of oil which it is possible to remove from a wet surface is very small, or even nil.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Restrictions on the use of this document are contained in the explanatory material.
• Corporate Authors:

  International Union of Railways

  Office of Research and Experiments
  Utrecht,   Netherlands 
• Publication Date: 1972-10

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Photos;
• Pagination: 16 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adhesion; Plasma arc cutting; Train track dynamics
• Old TRIS Terms: Plasma torch; Question b114
• Subject Areas: Construction; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00050445
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: International Railway Documentation, Selection of
• Report/Paper Numbers: B114/RP 4/E
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 24 1976 12:00AM