INTERNSHIP REPORT

ON

RAILWAY WHEELS AND AXEL MANUFACTURING

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This Internship would not have been possible without the support of many people.
Firstly, we wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to
Sri.NATRAJ (PRINCIPAL), BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
who permitted us for this internship and was also abundantly helpful and offered a
valuable assistance, support and guidance.
We would also like to thank Sri.M.C.JAGATH (HOD OF THE INDUSTRIAL
ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT) who was abundantly helpful and offered a
valuable assistance support and guidance.
We would also express my great many thanks to Sri.T. SURESHA (SSE/TTC
Electrical) & Sri. M.G.SUNIL ,Sri.D.SANJEEVA RAO (SSE/TTC Mechanical),
for their valuable and constructive suggestions during planning and development of
this internship. Willingness to spend time so generously has been much appreciated.
Without their co-operation & assistance this internship would not be successful.
We would like to express out deep gratitude to Sri. M. R. SHIRISH (TechnicianAxel dept.)forhis recommendations on this Internship.
We would like to extend my thanks to the Supervisors / Technicians / operators of
RAIL WHEEL FACTORY who helped us to complete the internship and enabling us
to visit their offices to observe their daily operations and guided us in all the way.

ABSTRACT

Indian Railways is the largest railway network in Asia. The wheels and axles for the
entire Indian railways is manufactured and supplied by RWF (Rail Wheel Factory)
Yelahanka, Bangalore, previously known as the Wheel and Axle Plant.
This report contains the brief procedure carried out in Rail Wheel Factory to produce
rail wheels and axles. It contains all the process which are carried out to make the
wheels and axle. The materials required for the productions, processing & also the test
carried out on the components are such that they do not undergo any damages during
working.

Overview

The Indian Railways are one of the largest in the world under a single
management. They employ the largest manpower as compared to
any other enterprise in the country. They also own the heaviest
assets and rail track length of over 1lakh kilometres and are
operating the railways with nearly 5,300 locomotives, 39,000
passenger vehicles and 3.5lakh freight cars. The size and magnitude
of the railways can be better appreciated when we realize that their
Railways run more than 1.5lakh train kilometres every day carrying
nearly 1crore passengers and nearly 67lakh tons of originating
freight dally, there by earning over Rs.4,500crores of revenue per
annum.
While on the one hand the Railways have been striving hard to meet
the transport needs of the country and to provide more and more
amenities, they have also been struggling to improve the health of
the railways and to rehabilitate its aging assets. To achieve the
astronomical results of performance mentioned above, it is
imperative that the railways explore all possibilities of the country
becoming self-sufficient in all inputs. Not only for repairs and
rehabilitation of the aging rolling stock but also for manufacturing
additional rolling stock to meet the increasing demands as the
requirements of wheel and axle are also increasing. These are two of
the heaviest components of the Railway Wagons and coaches, which
play the most crucial role towards safety.

Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) at Yelahanka, Bangalore (earlier known as

Wheel and Axle Plant, WAP) it was started by Shri CK Jaffer Sharief
the then Railway Minister who got this project to Bangalore is a
premier manufacturing unit of Indian Railways, which is engaged in
the production of wheels, axles and wheel sets of railroad wagons,
coaches and locomotives for the use of the Indian Railways and
select overseas customers. It was commissioned in 1984 to
manufacture wheels and axles for the Indian Railways. The plant has
many unique and modern features incorporating state of art
development in technology and designs. For example, the civil
engineering structures are planned on with modern architectural
concepts the cast steel technology used in the manufacture of
wheels uses the scrap steel collected from Railways own workshops
as raw material, the end

products (the wheels, axles and wheel sets) are precisely engineered
with
little scrap for human errors; rigid quality control and latest MIS for
production planning and control.
It has a planned capacity to manufacture 70,000 wheels of different
sizes, 23,000 axles and to assemble 23,000 wheel sets. It employs
over 2000 personnel and has an annual turnover of about 82crores.It
is an ISO 9001: 2000 and ISO 14001 certified unit for its business
processes. It has claims to the best productivity figures among
comparable industries. It has a very high level of automation in its
manufacturing facilities and has an enviable information technology
setup.The task involved in putting up this plant at a huge investment
adopting the latest technology was really stupendous and it is a
matter very great pride not only for the railway men but also for the
whole of the Nation that with the help Of Indian Engineers, workers
and Industry it has been possible to cast the first wheel In about 3
years time from the date of laying of the foundation stone.
After detailed study, It was decided to adopt "Cast Steel Technology"
for the manufacture of Wheel through the controlled pressure
pouring technique developed by M/s. Griffin Wheel Co., USA and the
"Long Forging Technology" for the manufacture of Axles, which has
been mastered by M/s. GFM, Austria (Europe) A great advantage in
adopting the Griffin Technology Is that the arising of scrap wheels,
axles, rail and heavy sections of steel from the railways own system
can be recycled to produce new wheels.

CONTENTS
WHEEL SHOP
MELTING SHOP
-

Ladle Pre-heating
Furnace
Furnace Charging
Melting
Re-carburising
Decarburising
Tapping of the metal
JOHN MOHR PIT

SPECTRO LAB
MOULDING SHOP
- Pressure Pouring
- Mould Splitting
- Hot Wheel Klin
- Sprue Wash
- Hub Stamping
- Hub Cutting
HEAT TREATMENT OF WHEELS
- Normalising
- Rim Quenching
- Tempering
- Hub Cooling
- Air cooling
WHEEL FINAL PROCESSING SHOP
- Apex Grinding
- Wheel Cleaning Machine
- Magna Glow Testing
- Ultrasonic Inspection
- Hardness Test
- Warpage Testing

- Hub Boring
- Final Inspection

AXEL SHOP
FORGING SHOP
- Billet Cutting
- Rotary Heat Furnace
- Forging
- End Cutting
- Stamping
- Normalising
- Water Quenching (only for some axels)
- Intermediate Cooling
- Tempering
- Air Cooling
MACHING SHOP
CNC Machine
CNC Station1: End Miliing, Centering & Cup
Turing
CNC Station2: Rough Turing
CNC Station3: Drilling, Reaming & Tapping
CNC Station4: Smooth Turning
CNC Station5 : Grinding
Ultrasonic test of axels
Magnetic particle testing

WHEEL SET (AXEL ASSEMBLY SHOP)

TESTING LAB
M-LAB
EMMS

PRODUCTION
Rail Wheel Factory is mainly divided into two major shops, i.e. The
Wheel Shop and The Axle Shop.
WHEEL SHOP
The wheel shop is the shop where the scrap steel is melted and
wheels are prepared.
RWF manufactures cast
steel wheels by a
controlled pressure
pouring process. In this process, the raw material used is pedigree
scrap (old used wheel sets, axles etc, rejected as unfit for use by
the Railways). The scrap steel is melted in Ultra High Frequency
Electric Arc furnace. The correct chemistry of molten metal steel is
established through a Spectrometer. The wheels are eventually
getting cast in the graphite moulds, which are pre-heated and
sprayed. After allowing for a pre-determined setting time the mould
is spilt and the risers are automatically separated from the cast
wheel.
The wheel is then subjected to various heat treatments. The
wheel undergoes the process of cleaning, checking, peening and
various stages of inspections. The wheel produced by this
process requires no machining except the precession boring of
heats central hole (hub) where the axle has to be fitted.
There are different varieties and sizes of wheels produced in RWF
depending on its use, like Box Wagon, Wagon and ICF etc. All these
wheels are prepared in the same manner but differ in their
dimensions.
In Rail Wheel Factory, the wheel shop is divided into 3 departments.9
They are:
1) Melting shop
2) Moulding shop
3) Wheel Finishing and Processing Shop (WFPS)/Cleaning

1) MELTING SHOP:
Ladle preheating:
-

Ladle pre-heaters are provided with micro-control

values and feedback system for proper temperature
control.
The temperature is to be set manually, fuel flow
control is automatic. Total preheating cycle is 21hrs.
An improperly heated ladle will show tendencies of
spilling. The spilling can also
be due to
inadequate
elimination
of moisture. Hence,
preheating cycle prescribed is followed meticulously.
Ladle is kept on preheated with proper planning so
that the ladle is ready by the time the working ladle
becomes condemnable.
After completion of above cycle, if ladle is not taken
for use, the temperature is brought down to 1000C
till 2hours before usage. Before using the ladle the
temperature is raised to 1200 C.
During weekends if any ladle is under preheating,
the temperature is brought down to 700C.

FURNACE
The furnace used in RWF for melting is ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE.
An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats charged
material by means of an electric arc.Industrial electric arc furnace
temperatures can be up to 1,800 C (3,272F). High thermal
efficiency, rapid heating, close temperature control and strict
atmosphere are few characteristics of the furnace that lead to
the production of good quality metal.

Principle:when an arc is struck between the electrodes and

charge material, heat is generated due to the resistance offered
by the metal charge.
In RWF,
The furnace is built on a tilting platform that facilitates tilting of
furnace forward for pouring molten metal into ladles. The
furnace can also be tilted backwards for inspection, charging
metal, flux, deoxidiser etc and for removal of slag through slag
door.
The roof of the furnace is made of steel lined inside with
refractory bricks and can be clamped in position. Metal can
also be charged from furnace roof.
The roof is provided with 3 circular holes through
which non-consumable graphite electrodes are inserted. The
electrodes can be raised and lowered by means of guides and
are usually water cooled to dissipate heat. They are connected
to 3 phase power supply.
Direct arc electric type of furnace is used in RWF wheel shop.

FURNACE CHARGING
The charge for Electric Arc Furnaces contains non-ferrous and ferrous
charge

Non-ferrous charge consist of

i) Calcined lime having broadly following composition:
- CaO 90% min.
- SiO2 1.5% max.
- Sulphur 0.2% max.
- Size 25-75 mm
ii) Graphite granules (carburiser)
- Carbon 98% min.
- Sulphur
0.05 % max.
- Ash 2% max.
- Grain size 0.5 to 0.6 mm with undersize 10% max and oversize
(up to 8.0 mm) 10% max.
iii) Calcined dolomite having following composition.
- CaO 50-55%
- Sulphur
0.2% max.
- MgO
- SiO2 30% max.
Ferrous Charge:
Ferrous charge consists of railway full wheels as well as wheels cut
to 7 pieces, axle end cuts coming from Axle Shop, foundry return,
LMS (Light melting scrap), LMS is miscellaneous railway scrap
consisting mainly track fittings, bogie and bogie fittings etc. The
sizes are 300 mm maximum.
Recently off cuts of plates and sheets from ICF are also available.
Condemned rails cut to 300 mm length max. are also used. Ferrous
scrap should be free of dirt material and oil/grease, rubber items.
Oil/grease and rubber items contain high sulphur. Hence adequate
caution should be given before using scrap.

Melting

Melting is a process of converting the solid metal scrap into

molten metal which can be used for casting any shape. In
RWF, the wheels are manufactured by casting process. For
this process molten metal is required. Hence the first
process for the manufacturing of Railway wheels in the
wheel shop are Melting of Metal scrap in a furnace. These

scraps are separated into light, medium and heavy

weighted scraps before sent to the melt shop.

- PRINCIPLE: When the temperature is raised very high i.e.

to a temperature above the melting point of that particular
metal, under a very sophisticated environmental condition,
the solid metal changes its phase into liquid.

Working:
Charge scrap wheels or metal cakes/skull or risers with the help
of magnet (2-2.5MT approximately)
The electrodes are lowered down. On supplying the necessary
current and voltage, an arc is produced between the electrode
and the charge material.
The initial arcing of the furnace is started on low tap (219 Volts)
with longer arcs so that the side scrap will melt fast and to
protect the roof. This is done for one minute.
The gap between the electrode and charge is maintained by
regulating the movement of electrodes so that the arc remains
between them and continuously melting the charge material. The
flux melts and forms a slag that floats on the surface of the
liquid metal. The slag prevents oxidation, refines the metal

and protects the furnace roof from excessive heat.

After 45-55minutes of arcing, start emptying the scrap through
slag door with oxygen lancing pipe.All the slag metal jam should
be cleared from the door before tilting the Furnace for removal of
slag. Only slag should be removed and not metal. When metal
comes out from the slag door, it will give continuous sparks.
Temperature must be controlled so that the maximum slag is
removed by 1650 degree Celsius. Allow only thin layer of slag
on the metal surface.
After almost all first slag is removed add alloys such as Ferromanganese, calcium lime and graphite powder is added at
around 1650 degree Celsius and 150kgs of reducing slag
mixture into the furnace to make the slag reducing.
Later the samples are taken and sent to the spectro lab for
testing the various elements.Depending on the analysis of check
sample Ferro-Silicon, Silicon -Manganese and Graphite granules
are added to ladle in metal stream.
After the liquid metal has
been achieved the desired
temperature, the electrodes are raised to extinguish the
arc and the furnace is tilted for tapping.

Re-carburising of metal:
Keep the required quantity of graphite powder ready in small
quantities, filled in gunny bag; maintain the bath temperature
around 1640 Celsius minimum. Lower the electrode column into the
molten bath, such that the electrode is just inside the bath.
Introduce the graphite powder into the molten bath, near the
electrode column through the slag door. Push the cake fallen on door
inside the furnace metal bath by rabble. Put on the powder in
whichever tap is required. After 3-4 minutes of arcing, mix the bath
thoroughly using metallic rabbles. Insure that the bath is uniform
and no graphite powder is floating on the top of the bath. Take the
sample with the slag pre coated spoon from deep inside the bath.
After 3-4 min take one more sample in the similar way.
Decarburising of metal:
The temperature of the metal must be maintained around 16301640

Celsius. Coat the front end of oxygen pipe with furnace slag. Insert
the slag coated oxygen lancing pipe into the bath through the slag
door and blow the bath with oxygen at 5-6kg/cm depending on the
carbon to be reduced. After the oxygen blowing add 10-15kg of Ferro
silicon to take care of high oxidised metal, when necessary. Add 3040kgs of Ferro manganese or silicon manganese to raise manganese
level in the bath and to take care of extra oxygen in the metal. Put
on power. Mix the bath thoroughly with the rabble. After 3-4 min of
arcing, take the sample from deep inside the bath for test. Again
after 3-4 min take another check sample. The ladles are then taken
into JMP from where the metal is poured into the cope and drag
assembly for casting.
Tapping of Molten Metal
RWF uses ladle which has a capacity of 23.5 ton metal. The
refactory used is 25 mm fire clay bricks to IS 8 specification as
safety layer and 115 mm 70% High Alumina brick to
specification.
Ladle is lifted from LPH(ladle pre heat station).
The temperature is checked twice before tapping the heat.
In
the
normal
conditions,
without
ladle
delay,
1690-1695 C temperature is considered for tapping (when the
ladle preparation is over in ten minutes time and final
analysis is received within ten minutes)
O2 is used to open the tap hole from the tap hole inside. If the
tap hole does not open in time, oxygen pipe is used for tap
hole opening from the slag door side.
While tapping, care is required to see that only metal comes
out of the tap hole initially and not with the slag. This can be
done by tilting the furnace till the metal level is above the tap
hole.
Ladle should be centred properly at the tapping station so that
the metal stream strikes the centre of the ladle. Metal stream
directed onto the sides wall may cause sidewall erosion and
sidewall punctures.
Ladle lip is prepared and the ladle sidewall should be inspected
thoroughly after lowering the ladle at the slag off station (SOS)
JHON MOHR PIT
Once the slag is taken out and the chemical composition of the

molten metal is tested and is same as required lift the ladle

from John Mohr Pit (JMP) with the help of crane.
Insulation powder is thrown into ladles to prevent radiation loss
of liquid metal.
Excess molten metal which cannot be poured into the ladle
may be emptied into pigging pot or dirt floor.
The ladle is lifted from the pit, 12 to 14 minutes before the
heat is ready. Ladle lifting time should be so synchronized that
ladle with full metal comes to JMP as soon as previous heat is
just poured. Hence ideally ladle may be lifted when 1718wheels are cast from the previous heat.

SPECTRO LAB:
There are 4 stages through which the chemical composition of the
sample can be determined, they are:

Excitation
Radiation
Refraction
Harness
Inetrpretation of results

The polished sample is placed on the ARL Metal Analyser and an

electric arc is passed. The atoms are excited to higher energy level
and they return to the lower energy level by giving a characteristic

radiation. This radiation is harnessed to obtain the required

information. Lastly these results are interpreted with the standard
values and the chemical composition is determined.

MOULD REPAIR SHOP:

- In this shop, re-machining of the drag and the cope

box is done, thus reusing them.
- The cope and the drag box are made from the clay
graphite moulds which are imported from China,
each weighing 2 tons.
- The machining of the cope and drag box are done
by using the following machines.
HVTL- Horizontal Vertical Turret Lathe
Radial Drilling Machine etc.
Thus the profile making, riser hole making and servicing are
done and sent to the mould section.

Moulding Shop
In this part of the wheel shop the molten metal is poured into the
mould box consisting of the cope and drag assembly, later the caste
wheel is separated from cope and drag assembly and is made to
undergo certain heat treatment process.

CASTING:

The casting process begins with pouring of molten metal into

cope-drag assembly, a small period of air cooling and finally
separating the cope and drag assembly to obtain the casted wheel.
1) Measurement of Temperature at John Mohr Tank:
- The casting process followed in RWF is critically dependent on
time and temperature. The casting should be complete
within a narrow band of metal temperature in shortest time
possible. The metal temperature is last taken in John Mohr
Tank with disposable Thermo Couple tips.
- An ideal temperature band in JMP is 1600 C
- Aluminium stars are plunged at temperature 1610 C
- If measured temperature is above 1610 C, metal is
allowed to cool down till temperature come below 1610 C.
To facilitate cooling, the slag layer is broken and dispersed
towards ladle wall.
2) Immediately after Aluminium stars are plunged, the JMP is
covered.
- The tube is fully dipped in the metal and taken up by approx.
half its length.
- 15 to 20 kg of dry sand is sprayed on the metal towards ladle
side wall through pneumatic sand dispenser.
- Sand is added to neutralize basic slag which has property to
attach Alumina present in ladle brick. Addition of sand
reduces side wall erosion
- If incoming metal temperature is <1600 C, 100kg Ladle
Insulating Material is added instead of 50 kg as mentioned
above.If incoming metal temperature is <1600 C, 100kg
Ladle Insulating Material is added instead of 50 kg as
mentioned above.
3) Pouring crane has two main functions, mould movements and
metal pouring. The Northern operator puts a hot asbestos gasket
on the pouring point.
- The asbestos gaskets should be moisture free. The holed
edges of the gasket should be smoothly cut and without any
loose ends or burrs. The gasket should have uniform thickness.
- Double gasket is used on isolated occasions when metal
penetration under gasket is observed due to tube sink age or to
avoid run out in case of any mould centring problem. For

such
occasions,
pouring station.

pre-heated asbestos gaskets are kept near

7) Mould is gently kept on the pouring point. Following activities

take place:
High Pressure clamps (2 nos.) hold the moulds and pouring
starts.
- Southern operator puts the sensor rod on stopper pipe.
8) As soon as the metal touches stopper head, pouring rate
changes to control rate.
- The southern operator takes out the sensor rod.
- When metal touches probe, immediately the centre plunger comes
down closing the in gate opening.
- Exhaust opens and pouring is completed.
- Low pressure clamps come down, High pressure clamps go up.
- B frame lifts the mould and carries it to PC-3A. Simultaneously,
A frame picks up new mould and brings it to pouring point.
Different steps in Pouring and Moulding:
Once the drag comes to respective close down position, the
operator does the following
Cleans the drag with blowing air at 25-30 psi pressure.
Inspects the drag for any apex damage, oil drop on drag
surface,
excessive
damage
of
ignite
sleeve,
availability/condition of four no. springs on drag retaining
ring. If necessary he decides to bypass the drag.
The cope is picked up with close down crane, cleaned with
compressed air and very delicately kept on the drag fully.
To ensure sound casting, at least 50 mm metal is left
within tube. Hence towards the completion of pouring,
a dip rod is inserted t o estimate the metal left.
Keeping in mind the thumb rule of 1wheel = 50 mm of
metal, the pouring supervisor decides no. of balance
wheels to be cast.
Once pouring is complete, the tube opening is
immediately covered with a 20 mm thick circular plate
cover kept on two asbestos gaskets. This is to block any
air entry
inside
tube
which may
oxidize
metal
deposition available in the tube.
Splitting:

 Initially the splitting time is set based on the average of the

previous heat.
Vacant hot wheel kiln is selected.
When the set splitting time is completed for a particular
mould, the indicator light glows.
Then the splitter crane is lowered, cope clamped and lifted
gently. In case the wheel is sticking to the cope, splitter crane
is moved up and down over the drag gently a number of times.
If the wheel is released, the cope is released to the cope line.
If risers do not come out with cope during splitting i.e.,
remain with wheel, they are broken with scissors or otherwise
broken with rods manually.
If sticking risers could not be broken, the wheel is removed
out of line and transferred to the area specified. If the wheel
is sticking to the drags due to run back metal or overflow , it
is by-passed and removed from the line along with the wheel.
The splitting time is fine tuned so that there is no
dripping and simultaneously the risers come out with copes.
Wheels short poured, run back, with fin, with pokers, heavy
laps and with slag/refractory inclusion etc., are removed.

Hot Wheel Kiln

There are three hot wheel kilns each having a capacity to hold 33
wheels Hot wheel kilns ensure controlled cooling of the wheels.
The wheel temperature after splitting is between 900 to C and
after hot wheels kilns should be between 450 to 575 C. The
approximate traverse time through the kiln is 50 mins.

Sprue Wash:
After the controlled air cooling the wheel coming out of the kiln
is at a temperature of about 400-600 degree Celsius. It contains a
little part of the runner and riser which is not removed during
splitting.
The part must be removed before the further cleaning of the wheel.
- There are three sprue wash stations and one chipping station.
- The ideal temperature at sprue wash is 425 C to 550 C. The hot
wheel kiln damper opening/closing should be adjusted accordingly.
- 25 mm dia copper coated graphite electrode is used for Sprue
wash. The electrode is required to be held correctly into the jaws of
the holder. A gap of 6 to 8 should be maintained between the
holder jaws and arcing point.
- Cracks can appear in sprue area of wheel if wheel is too hot or too
cold.Optimum temperature before sprue wash is 425C to 550C.
- If, wheel temperature is less than 380 C at sprue wash because of
delay, the wheel is off loaded. After hub cutting the wheel is
sprue ground
- At the last sprue wash station, after the spruce wash is
over, the stopper pipe is cut and the wheel is discharged after
chipping.
The station has a pneumatically activated arm having serration
cut in and also having a wire brush to dislodged and clean the
deposited metal. After the chipping operator completes the last
wheel of any heat and that wheel is hub stamped, he switches off
the power to hub stamping. The hub cutting operator now changes
the heat no. in the hub stamping machine.
- Eventually Sprue wash stations will be replaced with sprue
grinding machines because of a no. of advantages like:
Better surface finish
Less environmental hazardous.
More automation.
Less wheel defect and less wheel off load for
machining.

Hub stamping:
- After chipping the wheel is made horizontal with drag side up
and released on the conveyer.
- In the hub stamping, heat no. is hot punched on the back hub.
- Depth of punching is normally 1.5 mm.

Hub Cutting:
The centre portion of the wheel, where the axle fits in, need to be
bored in order to remove the casted portion from the wheel. This is
done by up cutting process. The hole is initially bored for a
diameter lesser than required during this process using Hub
Cutting Machine. Hence the process is also called Hub cutting
process.
- Hub cutting is done in four nos. hub cutters available. Hub cutters
1 & 2 are mechanical type. The diameter of bore is adjusted
through the cam provided.
- Hub cutter 3 & 4 are CNC type.
- Wheel temperature before hub cutting should be above 265 C. If
due to any reason wheel becomes cold, the wheel is offloaded
without hub cutting.
- Before hub cutting, the pilot hole is thoroughly cleaned up to the
end of dome on cope side.
- The top face of back hub is cleaned with a wire brush to take out
spray material and blown with compressed air.
- Wheel is centered properly with the centering device of the
machine before starting hub cutting.

- The torch flame is adjusted to have a blue flame.

- After the pilot hole is heated, cutting operation is started by
opening
the high pressure oxygen.
- This hole is initially cleaned using pneumatic air, so that the
hub cutting process can be begun from this portion.
- The oxy-acetylene gas flame is first directed to the pilot hole and
then moved along the radius and finally moved in a circular shape.
Hence the circular hub which is being cut falls after the arc
completes a circle of required radius.

The nozzle of the machine need to be regularly changed to prevent

hub not falling situation i.e., if insufficient flame is supplied for
cutting due to defects in the nozzle, the hub is not completely cut
through the whole depth of the wheel. Hence, the cut portion will
not fall after complete circular path of the flame. The distance of
8-12mm must be maintained between the nozzle tip and the back
hub face for proper cutting action.
- The machines are provided with automatic cut off of cutting
oxygen pressure as soon as cutting is over. Automatic cut off is very
important to avoid any gouging of the bore.
- If any hub does not fall, sledge hammer is used to dislodged it.
Some of wheels whose hub does not fall off are off loaded. In such
cases nozzle performance,
gas
pressures,
cutting
oxygen
pressure, cutting speed and quality of flame are checked.
Following Bore Size is maintained:
Heat treatment of wheels:
It is done :
- To eliminate residual stresses that is present in the axle
during forging and subsequent cooling.
- To homogenize the structure of the metal of forging.
- To impart, to the axle that degree of hardness, this makes it most
easy to machine.
- To improve strength, toughness and other mechanical properties
of the forged axle.
Metallic materials consist of a microstructure of small crystals
called "grains" or crystallites. The nature of the grains (i.e.
grain size and composition) is one of the most effective factors

that can determine the overall mechanical behaviour of the metal.

Heat treatment provides an efficient way to manipulate the
properties of the metal by controlling the rate of diffusion and the
rate of cooling within the microstructure. Heat treating is often
used
to
alter
the
mechanical properties of
an alloy,
manipulating properties
such as the
hardness, strength,
toughness, ductility, and elasticity.
The solidification of wheel in mould blank is a non-uniform process
in terms of chemical composition and rate of solidification.

1) NORMALISING FURNANCE(NF)
The first process in heat treatment is normalising. In normalising the
wheel is heated beyond upper critical temperature and soaked at
that temperature.
Normalizing is a technique used to provide uniformity in grain
size and composition throughout an alloy and to remove or release
internal stresses.
The term is often used for ferrous alloys that have been austenitized
and then cooled in open air. Normalizing not only produces pearlite,
but also bainite sometimes martensite, which gives harder and
stronger steel, but with less ductility for the same composition than
full annealing.
The other internal features os the furnace are:
Normalising furnace has 7 zonesZones 1,2,3-------pre-heating zone temp:940 C
Zones 4,5,6,7.soaking zones temp:970 C
Burners are used to heat the air because if we supply cold air into
the furnace i.e.to the wheel cracks are formed ,hence air is
heated before heating the wheel.
60 HP Blowers seen in zones 3,4,5,6,7
Apart from this automising blowers are used which split the diesel
through the 4 holes of the burner.

 Recuperator .used for heating the air and for mimising the
fuel consumption.It is seen at the top of the furnace.
Dilusion blowers dillusion takes place when the flue gases
in the recuperator
Nose cooling blower..this is usually found at the end of the
charging and discharing conveyerwhich prevents the heat from
coming out the furnace
The furnace is made of refractive material (steel) which can with
stand high heat.the furnace is mounted on earth(web plate or
floating ring) which inturn rotates the furnace.the earth rotates
with the help of rack and pinion gears mounted on both the
sides of the furnace. Even rollers are also used for rotating the
furnace.These are called as hearth supporting rollers ,there are
48 outside and 48 inside.
Wheels are loaded into and removed from the furnace with the
help of charging and discharging arms which are operated
hydraulically.
Inside the furnace the wheels are placed on the PEDESALS .There
are 48 pedesals inside and 48 pedesals outside , which can
accommodate 90 wheels and remaining 3 are left for charging
and discharging ..
Here the diesel along with the compressed air is used for
generating the flame.The diesel is pumped through diesel
motor.There is also a diesel flow meter outside the furnace which
indicates how much litres of fuel are consumed for each
zones.Thermocouple is used for controlling the the temperature.
There are water troughs provided inside and outside the furnace
which acts like sealing.
The normalizing process takes about one and half hours for each
wheel.
An induced draft fan 100HP blower is used to remove the
exhaust .There 2 chimneys to release the exhaust into the air
..one with direct connection form the furnace and the other
one from the recuperator.The solid wastes are collected in the
dust collector,which filters to separate the ash contents which are
later recycled and thus avoiding air pollution.
Following time limit is followed:
Any wheel should be soaked at requisite temperature.
Total hold up of the wheel in the soaking should not be

more than 105 minutes including the time of break down.

If hold up time is more than 105 minutes, the wheel is off
loaded.
In case of problem in quencher, discharging machine or draw
furnace the wheels can be held upto one hour in Normalizing
Furnace in addition to its normal time of 90 minutes. In case the
delay is more than one hour, the wheels should be removed from
the furnace and should be stacked separately for re-heat
treatment with marking of RHT and heat number
2) RIM QUENCHING:
Wheels from the last zone(7) are then transferred to rim
quenching section using Conveyor Length Ring Roller
(CTLR).Quenching is a process of cooling a metal at a rapid
rate. This is most often done to produce a martensite
transformation. In ferrous alloys, this will often produce a
harder metal, while non-ferrous alloys will usually become
softer than normal.
- To harden by quenching, a metal (usually steel or cast iron)
must be heated above the upper critical temperature and then
quickly cooled. Depending on the alloy
and other
considerations (such as concern for maximum hardness vs.
cracking and distortion), cooling may be done with forced air
or other gases, (such as nitrogen).
- During this process hot wheel discharged from NF is held drag side
up in the quenching station and high pressure water (25 degree
centigrade) is impinged on the wheel rim.This done to minimize the
wear and tear of the rim which comes in contact with the rail track
and to increase the rim hardness.
-On exposure to cold water i.e., getting quenched the rim
suddenly cools, but the plate remains hot.
- Subsequently, the plate and hub are subjected to slow cooling
and on shrinking during cooling, the plate and hub squeeze the
already cold rim
towards
the
centre; thereby
residual
compressive stress is imparted on wheel rim.
- The bulk stress condition is assessed through saw cutting test
as a destructive test in Met. Lab.
- There
are six rim quenchers. Any rim
selected automatically depending on its availability.

quenchers

is

- Each rim quencher has a rotary ring of 16 nozzles. Nozzles are

kept at two levels (low and high) with respect to wheel and nozzle
slit opening has three positions 45 vertical and horizontal.. This
process is done for about 3mins.depending on the hardness of the
wheel.

- Following parameters are maintained during rim quenching.

Minimum wheel temperature before rim quencher: 788 C.
Quenching time:BOX N:
i) 5 min if carbon is 0.56% and above.
ii) 6 min if carbon is <0.56%
BGC:
5 in 30 sec. (Mn is targeted to 0.72% to have
betterharden ability)
Water line pressure: 3.0 to 3.5 kgf/cm
Water temperature: 13 to 27

3) DRAW FURNACE (TEMPERING):

Untempered martensitic steel, while very hard, is too brittle
to
be useful for most applications. A method for alleviating this
problem is called tempering. Most applications require that
quenched parts be tempered.
- Tempering consists of heating steel below the lower critical
temperature, (often from 400 to 1105 F or 205 to 595 C,
depending on the desired results), to impartsome toughness.
Higher tempering temperatures, (may be up to 1,300 F or700
C, depending on the alloy and application), are sometimes
used to impart further ductility, although some yield strength is
lost.
- Tempering may also be performed on normalized steels.
Other methods of tempering consist of quenching to a specific
temperature, which is above the martensite start temperature,
and then holding it there until pure bainite can form or
internal
stresses can
be relieved.
These include
austempering and martempering.

- After rim quenching, the wheel goes to Draw Furnace for

tempering. Through the process
of tempering, wheel
is
toughened at the
expense of its hardness. Typically as
quenched hardness is 350-400 BHN. On tempering it reduces
to a band of 280-340 BHN. This furnace also has 7 zones each
having same temp.
In this process the wheel is soaked at a temperature of 500520 C for 120 mins. Wheels are moved in hooks which travel
through the length of the DF.
- At any time DF holds 80 wheels i.e., the productivity is 1 wheel
in 1.5 min.
- DF has eight zones and each zone is maintained at 500+-20 C.
- It is ensured that quenched wheel enters Draw Furnace within
10 minutes after quenching, if not the wheel is removed for RHT.

4) HUB COOLING:
On discharge from Draw Furnace, the wheel goes through
hub cooling. There are three coolers and every wheel is
cooled in all the stations. Hub cooling is done to ensure a
favourable
residual stress
pattern
in the
hub (mildly
compressive stress).
Following parameters are maintained during hub cooling

Water pressure: 2.5 kgf/cm

Water Temperature: 18 to 27 C
Time for cooling : a) BOX N: 45 sec at each station.
b) BGC: 40 sec. at each station.

Longer time in hub cooling decreases the closure value.

After hub cooling, wheels are off loaded and stacked in yard
for air cooling. After 12 hrs of air cooling, wheels are processed
at WFPS.
- During the assembly of the wheels with axels there are
chances ofcrack formations in the hub portion. Hence this
portion needs to behardened.
4)

This hardening of the hub portion is done by Quenching

Process.
- High pressure jet of water is sprayed only on the interior of
the hub during this process.
- Hence the hub portion becomes harder after this process
and the chance of crack portion is totally reduced.
The wheel after hub quenching has a rough surface and is air
cooled for 12hrs. The wheel need not be air cooled separately,
they are sent into storage yard after hub quenching. Wheels are
taken from storage yard as and when required and is subjected
to further cleaning and finishing process.

WHEEL FINAL PROCESS SECTION

Wheel is processed is Wheel Final Processing Shop (WFPS) formerly
known as Cleaning Shop. Wheels having been air cooled for 12
hours are picked up from wheel yard and loaded in WFPS.
The Wheel coming out of the casting shop has a rough, uneven
surface these wheels need to be cleaned and finished before its
usage. These cleaning, finishing and certain tests are conducted in
this cleaning shop.
The following major operations are carried out at the Wheel Final
Process Shop:
a) Apex Grinding and Plate Chipping.
4) 4
6

b) Wheel Cleaning Machine.

c) Magna Glow Inspection.
d) Ultrasonic Inspection.
e) Hardness Tester (BHN).
f) Warp age Testing.
g) Wheel Penning.
h) Hub Boring Machine.
i) Final Inspection.

a) APEX GRINDING:
First operation on the wheel is apex grinding. Here any fine
moulds at apex of the flange which is the parting line
between cope and drag, is ground. For this purpose wheel is
given 1.25 rotations, time required is 45 secs.

b) Cleaning machine (STEELBALL BLASTING):

Next the wheel moves on to wheel cleaning machine.The
surface of the wheel may contain dirt, ashes and even dust
particles formed during storing; also the wheels contain
scales formed during heat treatment process. This unwanted
dust must be removed In order to obtain a clean surfaced
wheel. Steel blasting is the first process carried out in
thecleaning shop.
-

Here high velocity steel shots (4mm dia.) are impinged on

the surface of the rotating wheel with high velocity to obtain
rough finish, hence the name steel blasting. Three root-blasting
units (3 motors each of 4HP capacity) blast the shots; one each
towards cope side, drag side and thread (on the top the apex).
Thorough cleaning of wheels from any scale, spray coating
and corrosion product is ensured here.The steel balls are
stored in the over head tank of the cleaning machine.

- Due to the impact of these particles the surface dust present

on the wheel gets removed due to the abrasive action. Hence
the surface cleaned wheel is obtained after this steel blasting
process. The blasting is done for 55 secs.

- After this process, the steel balls that fall to the ground under
gravity are raised by the elevator and loaded into the tank, thus
they are reused again.

c) Magna GlowTEST:
After this steel blasting, the wheel is made to
undergo two tests namely Ultra Sonic test and Magna glow test.
Only those wheels passed in these test are sent to further processing
and the wheels with defects are sent back to machining accordingly.
The rejected wheels are sent to scrap yard and is recycled.
- This is one of the testing conducted on the wheels for detecting
surface cracks. - The magnetic or magna powder (ionic oxide)
mixed with the water is passed on the wheels which acts as a
fluroscence. Using the magnetic boom, the wheel is rotated in
360 degrees and the UV light (lower range) is passed on the
wheels , if there are any defects the fluroscence gets collected
in these cracks and appears as a straight line in the presence of
the UV rays. Also these defects are marked using the chalk.
- Wheels
having minor
defects
on plate
like crack,
inclusions
of slag, refractory, sand, graphite, asbestos or
spray which can be easily removed through surface grinding
are sent to grinding like. If grinding operation up to a depth
of 3 mm is not likely to remove the defect, the wheel is marked
for machining. The wheels are sent for magna glow testing
again.

d)Ultrasonic Testing (UT):

This test is conducted only on the rim of the
wheel because this part of the wheel is subjected to more wear and
tear as it comes in contact with the rail. Here there are 6 propes that
immerse the wheel into the water which acts as a medium for

passing the sound waves along the rim of the wheel for 1 rotation of
the wheel, if cracks are present then the sound waves will deflected.
The computer shows thespecific readings like the wheel length
(mm), no. of rotations of the wheel and the actual length of the
wheel etc. Also some graphs showing the specifications of the 6
propes. The UT machine is set in the automatic mode.
e) Brinell Hardness Testing:
Brinell hardness test is used to determine the hardness of the wheel
by applying a load of 3000kg and it is done for about 1015 secs.
The hardness number is shown on the display and the required value
is between277 to 323. The machine is operated phenumaticallyand
the rim of the wheel is also subjected to grinding in the brinell
hardness testing machine.

f) Warpage :
It is an automatic machine used to measure the flatness of the
surface of the wheels with the help of the 4 point plate and the cycle
time is 1wheel/min.
- The wheels during casting and heat treatment process
remains at high temperature. Wheels are kept horizontally on
war page stations back side up. Four nos. laser transducers
check the war page at back flange.
- During this high temperature there are chances of wheel
undergoing
a little bending. But this bending of wheels
above certain limits is undesirable for the working of the
wheel.
- The War paging process includes the balancing of the wheels
from which the defects relating to the shape of the wheels can
be detected.
- If the detected defects in the shape like bending of wheels etc.
are more than the limiting value, wheels are rejected.
Permissible war page is 1 mm.

g) Peaning Machine:
Then wheels pass through war page stations to penning
machine.This machine is used for fine finishing and polishing of the

surface of the wheel. Here

there 2 motors placed on both the cope and the drag face of the
wheel and the steel balls are used for peaning the wheel which
blasted at a very high intensity compared to the steel balls used in
the cleaning machine. The duration of the process is about 3156
secs. Wheel is penned on the plate area, both cope and drag
sides to improve fatigue life. Through shot peening, the skin of
wheel plate is stretched beyond yield and thereby residual
compressive stress is imparted on skin layer.Shot peening is the
most economical and effective method of producing and making surface
residual compressive stresses to increase the product life of treated metal
partsto exhibit high wear and fatigue resistance
h) Hub Boring:
,MNow the wheel is taken up for hub boring. This is the
rough boring operation carried out on the wheel before it is sent
into assembly
shop.
During hub
cutting, the
centre hole
generated is of a smaller
diameter when compared to the required diameter.
This hole need to be enlarged for the axle to fit in. This hole
enlarging is done by the boring process.
- A square shaped carbide 5 point cutter tool is used for this
operation.
- The loading and discharging of the wheels is done through the
wheel loading manipulator which consists of 3 arms at 120
degree each .
- The manipulator is driven through the servo meter which is
connected to the inline gear box to transmit the power and the
gear box is a 3-stage reduction by means of planetary gear
arrangement .
- The wheel is mounted on the the chuck which rotates at 120
rpm against the stationary tool. The chuck is rotated using the
spindle motor which is belt driven.
- The boring is done for about 1.5 mins/wheel and is CNC
operated and represents the vertical lathe machine.
- The hole of 5-10 mm lesser than the axle wheel seat diameter
is
produced during this process i.e though the dia. of axel is

about 200 to 210mm, the rough boring is done to a dia. of

196mm of which other 5mm is left for machining allowances
during the wheel and axel assembly.
- The hole produced has a rough surface finish.
- BOX N wheel is bored to 205 mm dia and BGC wheel is bored
to 168 mm dia.

i) Inspection:
The wheels after boring are diverted to the inspection
section , where the inspection is done on the wheels by noting down
the respective wheel no. and the heat number. If the wheels pass the
inspection they are given a white seal P and sent to the wheel set.
If they fail they are given a yellow seal XC on them and sent to
machining section .
During the inspection they usually check for the
distance from the hub hole to the end of the wheel plate using a hub
length tool. The usual value lies between 430 to 431mm, if the wheel
satisfies these values the section pass the wheels by putting the
RDTY BOC OK on them. And if they cross this value then the
wheels are sent for machining. Apart from this other parameters are
also checked using the following tools :

Worm Wheel Tre Profile Gauge For BOX-N Wheels Max.

Wheel Front Plate Gauge
Go No & Go Gauge for Rim thickness
Bore length gauge
ICF Rim thickness
840 Wheel bore thickness gauge
ICF Wheel Bore length
Tape line gauge
- To measure the fuul circumference of
the wheel etc.

AXLE SHOP

The second unit of RWF is axle shop where the railway axles are
produced. An axle is a cylindrical rod on which the wheels of
locomotives are seated and hence helps to maintain the distance
between the 2 wheels.
RWF buys high-quality vacuum degassed steel blooms from
large-scale steelmakers. Axles are manufactured from billets cut
from the blooms. These blooms are forged in a precision longforging machine supplied from M/s GFM, Austria. The billets are
heated in a rotary hearth furnace to forging temperatures. Billets
then forged in axles on a special purpose long forging machine.
The forged axles are gas cut to required length. The axles are heat
treated through various heat treatment process. The physical
properties are confirmed before machining of the axles. The forged
axles are machined on various machines. The operations include
end machining, rough turning, finish turning, machining centers,
grinding and burnishing.
The railway axle is a long thick cylindrical rod made up of alloy
steel and weighs about 500 kg, The axles mainly consists of 4
parts namely Body ,Wheel seat, Dust guard and Journal. Major
portion of the axle is the body whose length is fixed and is equal
the distance to be maintained between two parallel wheels. Hence
the length of the body which is the centre portion of the axle varies

for different types of axle.

The portion of the axle where the wheels of the train is fixed is
the wheel seat. The diameter and the length of the wheel seat are
completely based on the diameter of the bore in the wheel and its
thickness. The curved portion in between the wheel seat and the
journal is the dust guard. The two ends of the axle are after the
dust guard is called the journal.
The journal is the main portion which is required in a perfect
smooth finished surface state. The bearings of the train wheels
occupy this place.
In RWF the axle shop is divided into three portions where different
operations are performed on the axle.
The three portions are :
1) Forging shop:
The blooms are cut and are given the shape of
axle by forging and later heat treated in the forging shop.
2) Machining shop:
The axles to the required dimensions are
machined in the machining shop. Certain tests done to check
cracks.
3) Assembly shop:
The finished axles are assembled along with wheels in the
assembly shop.

52

Bloom Cutting
RWF makes axles for locomotives, coaches, wagons, crane &
EMUs. Axle blooms are
procured from market.
To avoid
wastage, blooms
are procured in multiple length of unit billet
length for each type of axle.
The long bar with square cross section called Blooms are cut
into small length pieces called Billets by Gas cutting. The fuel used
is Oxygen + LPG Gas (Propane gas). The gas flame with a
pressure of about 10 bar is directed on the work piece and cutting
action is performed. The cutting is based on length to weight ratio.
The blooms are of different types:
1) ICF axel bloom .287 sq.m & length 810m.
2) Diesel axel bloom340 sq.m & length 1230mm.
3) BOX N axel blooms..300sq.m & length 925mm.

Heating:
Blooms are heated in Rotary Hearth Furnace before being fed into
forging machine. Rotary Hearth Furnace is a two shell structure,
one outer and another inner. It is oil fired type.
The billets after being cut must be heated so that it can be
forged. The Rotary Health Furnace having four zones namely Preheating zone, heating zone, soaking zone 1 and soaking zone 2 is
used for heating the billets to a temperature of about 1185 - 1200
degree Celsius.
The billet first enters the pre-heating zone where the heating
process begins. Further it moves to the heating zone.
In the soaking zone 1 and 2 is the spread to the core of the work
piece. The fuel used is High Speed Diesel (HSD). The pressure
inside the RHF is set to 10 bar. The temperature of the flue gas
coming out of RHF is
around 600 degree Celsius.
The hearth carrying billets rotates in all the 4 zones. The capacity of
the hearth is 80 billets.
The furnace is fitted with 20 burners, fume extraction system,
water troughs, measuring instruments etc. Gas fumes extracted
from the furnace is used to preheat the incoming air in recuperator
unit. Billets are charged and discharged with charging and
discharging machine.

1)
FORGING SHOP
Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of
metal using localized compressive forces. Forging is often
classified according to the temperature at which it
is
performed: "cold", "warm", or "hot" forging.
Forged parts can range in weight from less than a kilogram to 580
metric tons. Forged parts usually require further processing to
achieve a finished part.
Today, forging
is a
major
world-wide industry
that has
significantly contributed to the development of the manufacturing
cycles.
Forging can produce a piece that
cast or machined part. As the
forging process, its internal grain
shape of the part. As a result, the
the part, giving rise to a
characteristics.

is stronger than an equivalent

metal is shaped during the
deforms to follow the general
grain is continuous throughout
piece with improved strength

In RWF the axle are produced by forging process. Here the long
blooms are cut into small piece called billets which are later given
the shape of the axle by forging.
Forging, because of its inherent improvement in the grain
size and introduction of uninterrupted grain flow in the finished
Component has the following advantages:
Greater toughness and strength.
Reduction of weight of the finished part.
Saving in the material.

 Elimination internal defects, such as cracks, porosity, blow

holes etc.
Ability to with stand unpredictable loads during service.
Minimum machining to be done for the work piece.
There are many different kinds of forging processes available,
however they can be grouped into three main classes.
Drawn out: length increases, cross-section decreases
Upset: length decreases, cross-section increases
Squeezed in closed compression dies: produces
multidirectional flow
FORGING:
Axle is forged in Austria make Long Forging Machine. The LFM
is a multiple head power hammer operating on the Swaging
principle.
Swaging is a special type of forging in which metal is formed
by rapid succession of hammer blows. It is one of the most
economical methods ever employed to point tubing, rod, and wire
for redraw- and to size, shape, reduce, taper and bond or form
metal parts, hot or cold.
Metal is formed- not machined- so there are no wasteful chips.
Swaging actually improves grain structure giving the part greater
strength and an unusually fine finish.
Forging is the process that involves deforming of hot metal
piece to a desired shape using compressive forces. The force may
be impact type, like a blow from a hammer or a squeeze type, like
that of Hydraulic press.
For forging, the work piece is heated to a proper temperature
so that it gains required plastic properties before deformation. The
hammers operate through power and the pressure ; is applied
using hydraulics.
During operation the temperature of the billet will be around
1180- 1200 degree Celsius and at this temperature it is forged
into the required axle shape.
The hammers are made of special steel alloy and hence water is
sprayed during operation so that the hammer does not wear out.
58

Heated billet at 1200 C is

taken out from Rotary Hearth
Furnace and passed on to Long Forging Machine through the
conveyor system.
- The billet is then handed over to the Long Forging Machine by
means of a loading machine.
- The billet is held between the jaws of chuck and in brought
into the forging box and the forging starts.
- The programmed sequence of operation is carried out.
- Each type of axle has a different programmed sequence.
- The hot billet rotates during forging operation.
Air mixed with water in the form of jet is sprayed on the
hammers to keep them cool as well as to blow out the scaled
formed on the forging billets.
- The forging ratio is 2:1.
- The forging is over, the axle is unloaded from the Long
forging machine.

END CUTTING:
While forging the metal, the top layer of axle ends flows along the
surface of the axle and gets collected at the ends in the forms of
fish tail and as a result piping is formed.
To eliminate this tailed structure piping and in order to maintain the
exact length of the axle, the ends of the axle are cropped using an
oxygen + high propane type end cutting machine.
Approximately 58 kgs of metal is taken out in this cutting.
The forged axles arrive from the conveyor of the Forging Machine

to feed roller conveyor of the cutting equipment. The axles are

driven with this conveyor exactly into the location of the position
indicators or pointers.
The axle positioned in this manner is kept below the cutting
equipment with the axle lifting device.
The end cutting machine consists of two gas torch whose centre
distance can be adjusted depending up on the actual axle
length. The required oxy- acetylene gas at high pressure is used
to cut the axle which is still at a higher temperature (1000 C).
During operation, the two torches are fixed to a centre distance
equal to the sum of required length, shrinkage length (1%) and
the torch thickness and cutting performed. The high pressure gas
flame is brought near the work piece which is held by stands.
Water is not used as the work piece is still in red hot condition and
spraying may results in the formation of cracks. Once the excess
material is cut off axle is then sent for stamping operation
STAMPING:.
After end cutting the axle is taken to stamping machine. In this
process the stamping machine punches stamps the axle with
numbers which includes different coding .Following details are
stamped.
RWF 14 A 1234
RWF =>Manufacturers code.
2014=> Year of manufacture
A=>Manufacturers series A to Z
1234=> Serial number.
The time required for stamping is 2 min approx.
COOLING:
After end cutting and stamping the axle is still at high
temperature. In order to do further processing and enhance the
properties of the axle, it must be cooled. Air cooling helps the axle
to loose heat by radiation.
There are two conveyor type cooling beds, having a capacity to hold
30 axles each.
A hand over equipment takes the axle from cooling bed and
positions in the Normalising furnace. The conveyor swivels 90 C on
pivotal movement and hands over the axle to the Normalising

furnace.

AXLE QUENCHING:
Not all types of axles require quenching. Only a few types of diesel
axles are quenched in quenching agent (polymer oil) and this is
called Polymer Quenching.
The axles requiring quenching are brought in a batch of 5 axle to the
quench elevator. The elevator then carries the axles to the
quenching tank and brings back the axles after dipping them in the
polymer quench ant for pre- determined duration, generally 30 min.
Quenching is defined as sudden cooling of heated steel (metal) by
dipping in cooling agent or spraying cooling agent in order to obtain
the work piece in a stable state which induces certain properties
like hardness etc to the work piece material. A mixture of polymer
oil and water in the ratio 1:20 is used as quenching agent in forging
shop of RWF.
INTERMEDIATE COOLING :
Normalised/quenched axle is air cooled on intermediate cooling
bed (ICB) from 860 C to 300 C before being fed into tempering
furnace.
ICB is a hydraulically operated walking beam
having two fixed beams and one moving beam.

conveyor system,

TEMPERING:
Axle from Intermediate cooling bed goes to tempering done at a
temperature of 650 C. Tempering has a capacity to hold 118 axle.
The axle movement is similar to that of normalising furnace. It is
necessary to return towards equilibrium after quench hardening,
by heating the
steel
to a
temperature below
the critical
temperature. This is tempering. Tempering also reduces the internal
stresses in the axles which may have induced during heating,
forging or quenching.

Machining Shop:
The axle coming out of Forging Chamber are of dimension
greater than required, only rough shape and have very rough
surface. These axles cannot be used directly. Hence in order to
obtain exact dimensional, required shape and a perfect surface finish
machining has to be carried out.
Machining is any of various processes in which a piece of raw
material is cut into a desired final shape and size by a controlled
material-removal process.
The many processes that have this common theme, controlled
material removal, are today collectively known as subtractive
manufacturing, in distinction from processes of controlled material
addition, which are known as additive manufacturing. Exactly
what the "controlled" part of the definition implies can vary, but it
almost always implies the use of machine
tools (in addition to just power tools and hand tools).
Metal cutting is a process of removing a layer of material from
the metal blank by means of a tool, which is harder than the metal
being cut. The layer of metal is removed is called as chip and this
removal is due to plastic deformation or controlled fracture in the
metal blank.

Cutting Tool and Chip Formation:

A cutting tool (or cutter) is any tool that is used to remove material
from the work piece by means of shear deformation. Cutting may be
accomplished by single-point or multipoint tools.
Single-point tools are used in turning, shaping, plaining and
similar operations, and remove material by means of one cutting
edge. Milling and drilling tools are often multipoint tools. Grinding
tools are also multipoint tools. Each grain of abrasive functions as
a microscopic single-point cutting edge (although of high negative

rake angle), and shears a tiny chip.

Coolants:
During metal cutting extensive heat is generated due to the friction
between the tool and work piece Also, as the chips slides up the
tool face, heat is generated due to friction at the contact points
between chip and tool face.
The excessive
heat thus
generated can
damage the
microstructure of both the cutting tool and the work piece. In order
to reduce the effect of friction or heat generated, Cutting fluids are
used.
Cutting fluid is a type of coolant and lubricant designed
specifically for metalworking and machining processes. There are
various kinds
of cutting fluids, which include oils,
oil-water
emulsions, pastes, gels, aerosols (mists), and air or other gases.
They may be made from petroleum distillates,
animal fats, plant oils, water and air, or other raw ingredients.
Depending on context and on which type of cutting fluid is being
considered, it may be referred to as cutting fluid, cutting oil,
cutting compound, coolant, or lubricant.
CNC Machine:
Numerical control (NC) is the automation of machine tools that are
operated by precisely programmed commands encoded on a
storage
medium, as opposed to controlled manually via hand
wheels or levers, or mechanically automated via cams alone. Most
NC today is computer numerical control (CNC), in which computers
play an integral part of the control.
CNC Station 1 : End Milling, Centring & Cup Turning:
The rough surface axle coming from the forging shop is sent to the
machining shop where in the first station End milling, Centring and
Cup turning operations are carried out.
- The forged axle after undergoing various heat treatment process
will have excess length and this must be cut to the required length
with little amount of tolerance which is left for further machining.
69

- This excess material is removed by milling operation. The excess

material is removed at the ends of the axle hence called as end
milling.
- Milling is a manufacturing process in which excess material from
the work piece is removed by a rotating multi point cutting tool
called milling cutter. The multipoint milling tool consists of number
of inserts which does the actual cutting job. During operation the
stationary work piece is brought near to the high speed rotating
milling cutter rotating at 350 rpm which removes the excess
material.
The inserts used for milling are made up of Carbide and have 4
cutting edges. Centring is producing a centre hole in the axle in
order to hold the work piece for further machining processes.
Centring is followed by cup turning where the excess material is
removed and given surface finish at the ends. Both the centring and
cup turning tool are made of High Speed Steel. The speed, feed and
depth of cut depends on the type of the axle to be machined.
After this an Ultrasonic test is done to detect the vertical cracks. This
is explained completely in the Testing.
CNC Station 2 -Rough Turning
After the completion of the End Milling, Centring and Cup Turning
and the UV Test, the axle comes to Station 2 where Rough Turning
takes place.
Turning is a machining process where the external surface of the
Work piece is machined by means of a Stationary Traversing Tool and
the work piece being rotated.
The forged axle has scales and excess material on its surface, in
order to remove this excess material the rough turning operation is
done.
The exact shape of the axle is obtained in this process and the
surface is being very rough after the machining as the name
indicates.
During operation the axle is fixed between the chucks and made to
rotate at a very high speed. The tool having 8 cutting edged is fed
against this rotating axle which removes the excess material in the
form of chips.

The material is removed from both the edged simultaneously i.e. the
turning operation makes use of 2 tool at the same time in order to
reduce the time of operation.
In Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) axle machining shop rough turning is
done by both CNC lathes and conventional lathe. In the CNC lathe
the feed, the motion of the tool spindle/holder for each type of axle
is programmed and fed into the computer which guides the cutting
operation.
Various parameters like length of the axle, feed, diameter of the
axle, speed of rotation etc can be adjusted and altered by the
operator as and when required.
A tracer placed in the carriage traces the template, tool carriage and
hence the tool moves along the same shape ,hence the required
shape is obtained on the axle.
Each parameter like feed, speed, carriage movement etc can be
controlled by the operator. The process can also be automated and
can be stopped and adjusted at any point of time.
CNC STATION 3 Drilling, Reaming & Tapping
After rough turning of the axle, threaded holes are drilled at the two
ends surfaces in order to fix the bearing to the axle.
Drilling: Drilling is a machining operation of producing a cylindrical
hole in a solid work piece by means of a revolving tool called the
Drill bit. Drill bit is also called as twist drill since it has sharp twisted
edges formed around a cylindrical body. In operation, the drill bit is
held in the chuck of the machine and rotated by a spindle at high
speed. With the help of the hand wheel or by automatic means, the
drill bit is forced to move against the rigidly clamped work piece. The
hole is generated by the sharp cutting edges of the rotating drill bit
while the excess material removed (chips) gets curled and escapes
through the helical grooves provided in the drill bit .Since the cutting
action takes place inside the work piece, lot of heat is generated:
this may cause damage to the tool as well as the work piece. Hence
coolant is used to reduce the heat. Both the ends are drilled at the
same time.
Reaming: Reaming is the operation of finishing a previously drilled
hole to bring it to an exact size and to improve the surface finish of

the hole. The operation is earned out using a multi tooth revolving
tool caller Reamer, which consists of a set of parallel straight or
helical cutting edges along the length of the cylindrical tool. This
operation is carried out at a speed lower than drilling in order to
obtain a good surface finish.
Tapping: Tapping is the operation of producing internal threads in a
previously drilled hole by means of a tool called tap. The tap has
threads cut on its periphery and is hardened to improve its
properties. The threads cut on the tap form the replica of the threads
to be produced in the work piece. To generate a specific size thread
in the work piece, a hole with diameter smaller than the size of the
tap is first drilled using twist drill. To perform the tapping operation,
the tool is held rigidly in the spindle and is rotated at a speed less
than drilling operation. The rotating tap is fed slowly in the hole of
the work piece to cut the material and produce threads.
Operations are carried out simultaneously on both sides. A
continuous supply of coolant is required in order to reduce the heat
production and wash away the chips.
CNC Station 4-Smooth Turning:
The roughly finished axle in the previous station is now given a good
surface finish by turning operation. A six edged carbide tool is fixed
in the tool holder and is fed against the rotating work piece. The
feed given is very less in order to obtain the perfect finish. The axle
dimensions are same as required dimensions, with tolerance of
about 3-5 microns. These operations give finishing to the body of
axle, while the dust guard and the journal is finished by the Grinding.

Station 5-Grinding:
The journal is the most important part of the axle since this bearing
is seated on it. Hence the journal is given a perfect finish. This is
done by grinding. Here Centre less Grinding is done. The shape of
the grinding wheel is same as that of the axles, dust guard and
journals shape. Hence for different axles different grinding wheel
must be used. Two wheels are kept on both the ends to finish both
the sides of the axles. They operate one after the other. In operation
the work piece comes near to the wheel and gets fixed. Now the
high speed grinding wheel approaches the axle due to which very
fine material layer is removed from the work piece due to the action

of abrasive particles fixed on the grinding wheel. In the same

manner the other side of the axle is also finished.

Ultra Sonic Testing for wheels and axles:

Principle: the velocity of Ultra Sonic Waves (high frequency
sound waves) varies in different medium.
In axle machine shop the Ultra Sonic Waves are made to pass
through the axle/wheel. The velocity of these waves varies in
different metal medium. When the waves are sent, if they come
across metallic and non- metallic inclusions the velocity varies which
can be detected through a computer connected to the ultra sonic
testing machine. While propagating, if the waves come in contact
with the cracks, they reflect without passing through them This
change in
wave signal is
detected on the computer.
The
axles/wheels with cracks and nonmetallic inclusions are if possible
corrected else it's rejected.
The ultra sonic testing is done
twice in the axle machine Shop.
First when axle comes out of
STATION 1 (i.e. after End Milling,
Centering and Cup Turning). Here
the waves are sent in horizontal
direction from two end surfaces so that internal vertical cracks can
be detected. Here the axial cracks are detected.
Second Ultra Sonic Test is done when the axle is out of smooth
turning. Here the waves are sent in vertical direction along the whole
length so that internal horizontal cracks can be detected. It is called
Radial Ultrasonic Testing as the radial cracks are detected.

Advantages
Sensitive to both surface and subsurface discontinuities.

 Depth of penetration for flaw detection or measurement is superior to other

methods.
Only single-sided access is needed when pulse-echo technique is used.
High accuracy in determining reflector position and estimating size and shape.
Minimal part preparation required.
Electronic equipment provides instantaneous results.
Detailed images can be produced with automated systems.
Has other uses such as thickness measurements, in addition to flaw detection
Magnetic Particle Testing for wheels and axles:
This test is done to a completely finished axle/wheels just before it enters
the assembly shop where assembling of wheel and axle takes place. This
test is mainly to detect surface cracks. In this test, magnetic particle
powder is mixed in oil and is poured on the body of the axle/wheel which is
held in place by the chucks. DC current is
used and the axle/wheel acts as a
permanent magnet until the current flows
through.
Then Ultra Violet rays are incident on the
axle/wheel. If no surfaces Cracks are
present then UV rays are reflected back else green light is affected. The
axle/wheel with cracks are rejected or else sent to heat treatment
depending up on the size of the crack.
Advantage

Rapid Flaw Detection: Ideal for quickly locating surface and sub-surface flaws and
discontinuities in ferromagnetic material like Iron, Nickel, Cobalt, and related alloys.
Highly Adaptable: Ideal for inspection of irregular parts.

As Forged or As Welded: Less preparation of inspected material as sullied surface

area is less important than other NDT methods. Inspection of material in "as is"
condition saving cost of cleaning and preparation.

Economical: Less expensive application than other NDT methods.

Highly portable: magnetic particle testing can be performed almost anywhere in
the field or shop.

Assembly Shop
The assembly of wheel sets is done on a highly automated wheel
assembly complex. The wheel seat size of the axles is measured
on an automated measuring unit and the dimensions are
transferred to two wheel borers. Paired wheels are custom bored
as per the wheel seat size to get correct interference fit. The
wheels are then pressed on axle in a 300 T Wheel press.
In assembly shop, the wheel seat diameter is sent to a Measuring
Stationwhere it is exactly measured to each axle and wheel for the
particular axle is centre bored to the measured axles wheel seat
diameter by the vertical boring machine using octagon shaped tool.
After the smooth surface finish boring operation the two wheels for
one particular axle are sent for pressing.
The two wheels are hydraulically pressed on a Mounting Press , so
that the two wheels sit on the wheel seat of the axle by using
pressing machine one wheel after the other. This combination of two
wheels and an axle is called Wheel Set.
The pressure to be applied on the wheel for pressing each wheel
varies on different properties. Castor oil is applied on the axle during
pressing in order to reduce the pressure on the axle. The pressure
applied is recorded in the form of a graph.
The wheel sets obtained is measure by various gauges (e.g. Offset
gauge).
In case the distance between wheels is to be altered or any other
minor corrections need to be done is corrected by damping machine.
Once the wheel set is inspected, it is painted to prevent the surface
of the axle from rusting and the journal is covered and then
transported to place where rest of the body parts of the train is

manufactured.

PRESSING OF THE WHEEL AXEL SET

THE FINAL ASSEMBLED WHEEL AND AXEL SET

Testing Lab
Welds, casts and forgings are tested for one or more following purposes To access numerically the fundamental mechanical properties like
ductility, malleability, toughness etc.
To determine data i.e. force deformation values to draw conclusion
upon which engineer can base his design.
To determine the surface and sub surface defects in the parts.
To check chemical composition.
To determine suitability of the material for a particular application.
Tests on these can be broadly classified as Destructive Tests- These tests are conducted inside the Metallurgical
lab (M-LAB)
After the test is conducted the material or sample is destructed i.e. it
breaks or remains no use for further use.
E.g.- Tensile Test.
Non Destructive Tests- These tests are conducted inside the
industry , for example, brinell hardness test , ultrasonic test etc.
SA component does not break in this test. It can also be used for its
purpose even after testing.
E.g.- Ultra Sonic Testing.
The M-LAB has three sections :
Physical lab
Chemistry lab
Refactory lab

Physical lab:

The various tests carried out in the physical lab are-

1. Closure Test
2. Hardness Test
3. Tensile Test
4. Yield Strength
5. Elongation
6. Reduction in Area
7. Gain structure
8. Impact Test
9. Izod Test
10. Charpy Test
11. Ultrasonic Test & Magnetic Particle Testing

Chemistry lab:
In this lab various tests are conducted on the raw materials which are used in the
melting shop such as calcium lime, ferro manganese, ferro silicon, coke, etc.

REFACTORY LAB:
In this lab the basic refactory materials such as the refactory
bricks used in the walls of the electric furnace and the high alumina
bricks used in the ladle are tested. One of the test conducted is
Refractiveness Under Load (RUL) TEST.

EMMS (Electrical & Mechanical Maintainance Shop)

In this shop the machining of the spare parts are done in 3
different rooms namely,
- EMMS ROOM (MACHINING ROOM)
- TEST ROOM
- TOOL ROOM
EMMS ROOM (MACHINING ROOM):
Here one can see different types of machines
such as:
LATHES

HMT LATHES
BOMBAY LATHE
CENTRE LATHE
MILLING MACHINE
UNIVERSAL MIILING MACHINE
COPYING TYPE MILLING MACHINE
VERTICAL KEYWAY SLOTING MACHINE
GRINDING MACHINE
VERTICAL DRILLING MACHINE

TEST ROOM:
Here the testing of the hydraulic cylinders,
hydraulic pumps & control valves are done according
to the required specifications like:
Hydraulic cylinders:
- Flow measurement
- Presuure
- Leakage

Hydraulic pumps:
- Internal leakage
- Capacity
- Flow rate
TOOL ROOM:
Here the foam tools (both cope & drag foam
tools)are made which are later sent to the mould
repair shop (MRS).These tools are used for removing
the erosion which are formed on the cope and drag
box due to the repeated moulding.