Experimental and numerical investigation of the characteristics of flash-butt joints used in continuously welded rails

Continuously welded rails are widely used in the Iran railway network, which are generally built using the flash-butt welding process. To accurately model the flash-butt welding process, thermal analysis, and prediction of the welding residual stresses, the influence of upsetting force on the total electrical resistance and a material model with consideration of the influence of temperature on the material properties are included in the numerical modeling. In this paper, numerical and experimental studies, including the finite element method, thermography, metallography, and hardness testing are performed to determine the characteristics of the welded UIC60 rail. By studying the fractured flash-butt welded UIC60 rails, it is shown that the location of the crack initiation and the rail failure in the web and heat affected zone of the welded rails was similar as compared to the maximum tensile residual stress calculated by numerical simulation. According to the numerical and experimental results, it is shown that four key parameters – such as the maximum temperature during the welding process, the total welding time, the upsetting time, and the upsetting force – control the size, microstructure, and the hardness profile of the heat affected zone which directly affects the characteristics and quality of welding.