Voest-alpine Schienen Gmbh & Co. Kg

Peter Pointner

Alfred Moser

Georg Prskawetz

Method for heat-treating profiled rolling stock, including track and railroad rails, having a profiled surface and increased heat removal from portions of the profiled surface during cooling in the gamma range of an iron based alloy material. The method includes aligning the profiled rolling stock, at an average temperature of between 750&deg; C. and 1100&deg; C., straight in its longitudinal direction by plastic shaping, and moving the aligned profiled rolling stock, in its aligned state, in a transverse direction and holding same there. The method also includes evenly cooling of the aligned profiled rolling stock, in a first cooling, to a temperature below 860&deg; C., with the same local cooling intensity, by radiation, in still air, removing heat from the first cooled profiled rolling stock, in a second cooling, in the longitudinal direction with an intensity which locally is essentially the same, but, when viewed in cross section, is circumferentially different, and increasing the cooling intensity in at least one zone at the circumference of the first cooled profiled rolling stock. Greater cooling intensities are assigned to areas with one of a large cross sectional ratio relative to the circumference and a large portion of volume with one of respect to the surface and a high mass concentration. The method further includes increasing a cooling speed of areas of the increased intensely cooled profiled rolling stock having locally high temperatures, and bringing these areas to a conversion temperature, under which cooling conditions, a fine pearlitic grain structure, free of martensite, is formed, and cooling the increased intensely cooled profiled rolling stock from the conversion temperature to room temperature, at the same local cooling intensity, in still air.

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Leoben, Australia

Peter Pointner