LOI Thermprocess GmbH (Essen, Germany):

F. Gerwin, Mag. Eng.
D. Schröder, Dr.
Е-mail: friedrich.gerwin@tenova.com

To provide quenching of a railroad wheel rim for high-speed trains, Taiyuan Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (Shanxi, China) has used the mathematical model, determining optimal quenching parameters, at its fully automatized heat treatment line that was put into practice in January 2013. Operation experience has confirmed that this model can exclude pilot works during mastering that usually required long time. LOI company has equipped the production facilities with the new automatic quenching machines that can be adapted flexibly to different railroad wheel rims geometry and provide continuous operation during often transitions to another production range. LOI has also calculated parameters for separate kinds of finished products preliminarily and has proved them at the pilot unit in Witten. Therefore, putting into operation has been realized just with preliminary settings and mastering has been executed more quickly that it was planned on the base of conventional units. Possibility of choosing the required technological procedure from previously developed and approved data base (with rather small practical optimization) can save operation time, provide wheel quality and cut the expenses respectively. It is shown that Taiyuan Heavy Industries has already succeeded to certify its finished products meeting the requirements of several European standards, that was impossible before.