Current trends in the production of railroad wheels and the effect of out-of-furnace treatment of the steel on their properties

Current trends in the production of railroad wheels show the use of some promising techniques: a reduction in the carbon content of the finished steel; degassing the steel in a vacuum to decrease its hydrogen content; more efficient deoxidation and alloying of the steel. When used together, these measures are ensuring that the finished steel has the mechanical and service properties prescribed for wheel steel. Studies and factory testing of a new technology for making wheel steel have shown that the oxygen content of the steel can be reduced by its self-deoxidation during vacuum degassing. This approach also helps lower the steel’s hydrogen content while saving deoxidizers. Researchers have discovered certain laws that govern the relationship between the characteristics of wheel steel and its contents of sulfur and gases. The amount of sulfur and gases in this type of steel can be reduced by using efficient parameters for the treatment that is administered outside the steelmaking furnace. __________ Translated from Metallurg, No. 8, pp. 56–60, August, 2006.