NDE2019, 074, v2: ’Significance Of NDT For Monitoring Of Manufacturing Flaws In Rail . . .

Significance Of NDT For Monitoring Of Manufacturing Flaws In Railway

Rails To Minimize Service Failures
More info about this article: http://www.ndt.net/?id=25752

Debdutta Mallik1, Saroj Kumar Ojha2

1
Velosi(M) Sdn Bhd, Kualalumpur,Malaysia

2
Jindal Steel & Power Limited, Raigarh, India

debdutttamallik@yahoo.co.in , d-mallik@velosi.com , saroj_jsr@rediffmail.com

Rail safety plays an important role in our daily life. Manufacturing of good quality rail track has been a challenge
since the last few decades. In the modern era of technology rail track manufacturing is an example of technological
advancement in the manufacturing industry. Automatic/Online NDT plays a great role to ensure the rail is defect-free
prior to putting in service. However certain discontinuity may lead to major failure in service if undetected. This paper
deals with different aspects of online/automatic Ultrasonic testing of rail at the manufacturing stage and it’s limitation
and also discusses how to increase detect-ability and possible failure of the NDT system which could miss the
discontinuity and may lead to a service failure.

Keywords: Rail, NDT, Automatic/Online NDT, Ultrasonic.

1.0 Introduction: Rail transport is a part of our daily life either directly or indirectly. It has major influence to our
country’s economy. Railway track with higher degree of quality is mandatory requirement in order to make hassle
free and safe transportation. Any kind of failure in rail rack may cause fatal accidents which cannot be compensated.

Manufacturing of rail track with higher degree of quality has always been a challenge to the industry and continuous
development is still on progress. Many specification or standards are developed to control the quality and have been
revised time to time in stringent manner. Automated/Online Ultrasonic Testing system is one of the major requirement
which ensures that the rail is free from detrimental discontinuity which may be a cause of failure during service.

However, there are many techniques to inspect the rail by using ultrasonic at manufacturing stage followed by relevant
standards and specification.

In this paper, various manufacturing discontinuities in rail and its consequences during service have been briefed along
with various techniques of Ultrasonic testing of rail at manufacturing stage with advantages and limitations.
Additionally, new techniques have been proposed to improvise scanning and detectability.

2.0 Production of Flat Bottom Railway Rails: In the modern era of manufacturing technology rail is
produced through universal rolling process controlled by AGC (Automatic gauge control) to achieve precision in
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dimension under close tolerance.

Rail Rolling
Blast Electric Laddle (Breakdown,
Degasser Continious Reheating
Furnace Arc Refining Intermidiate
Casting Furnace
Furnace Furnace and Tandem
Mill)

Fig.1. Typical Flow chart for rail production

3.0 Automatic/Online NDT of Rail: Automatic Non Destructive Testing(NDT) of rail is done at the speed of
1.0 – 2.0 mtr/sec. However, speed of testing depends on configuration and capability of the NDT system. Any rail
marked as having defect is reprocessed or verified through manual NDT before final rejection. Failure in detection of
any significant internal flaw could be cause of catastrophic failure during service.

Automatic
Eddy
Profile and Paint
Laser Current
Brushing Surface Ultrasonic Marker
Straightness Testing
Maching Inspection Testing (Flaw
Measurement (To detect
(To clean the (To check (To detect marking at
(To check surface and
surface) surface internal flaws) true to
straightness) subsurface
discontinuity location)
flaws)
and profile)

Fig.2. Typical Flow chart for online NDT system of rail

4.0 Manufacturing Flaws and its consequences during service: Purpose of rigorous NDT followed
by standards or specification is to ensure that the rail is free from any detrimental discontinuity which may cause a
service failure. Few example of service defects and its correlation with manufacturing flaw is given below:

Sl No Name of service defect Origin Hazard

1 Transverse Fissure: A transverse fissure Imperfection in Steel. Can be complete break of
is a fracture originating from a nucleus progressive along (Manufacturing Flaw) the rail across head, web
crosswise. (Figure. 3) and base.
2 Compound Fissure: A compound fissure is Internal longitudinal Can be complete break of
a progressive fracture originating in a horizontal split seam, segregation, or the rail across head, web
head progressing until it is substantially inclusion. and base.
at a right angle to the length of the rail. (Figure. 4) (Manufacturing Flaw)
3 Horizontal Split Head: A horizontal split Internal longitudinal Can develop into a
head is a progressive longitudinal fracture originating seam, segregation, or compound fissure, in which
inside the rail head. (Figure. 5) inclusion. case the service failure is a
(Manufacturing Flaw) complete transverse break.
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Sl No Name of service defect Origin Hazard

4 Vertical Split Head: A vertical split head is a Internal longitudinal seam, The rail may break
progressive longitudinal fracture through or near the segregation, or inclusion. into several pieces.
middle of the head, extending into or (Manufacturing Flaw)
through it. (Figure. 6)
5 Piped Rail: Piped rail is a vertical split in a rail, A wide longitudinal seam or The rail may break
usually in the web, due to failure of the shrinkage internal oxidized cavity into several pieces.
cavity in the ingot to unite in rolling. (Figure. 7) inside the web.
(Manufacturing Flaw)
6 Mill Defects: Mill defects are deformations, cavities, Cavity, seam or foreign Can propagate to a
seams, or foreign material found in the head, web, or material either external or service defect.
base of a rail. internal. (Manufacturing
Flaw)
7 Broken Base: A broken base is a progressive fracture Seam/Lap, Segregation or The rail may break
in the base of the rail, with a vertical separation or inclusion. (Manufacturing into several pieces.
split. A broken base is normally confined within the Flaw)
flange area of the rail base and is usually an oval
shaped break called a half-moon break. (Figure. 8)

Figure. 3 Transverse Fissure Figure. 4 Compound Fissure Figure. 5 Horizontal Split Head

Figure. 6 Vertical Split Head Figure. 7 Piped Rail Figure. 8 Broken Base or Half Moon
Break

5.0 Present practices for Ultrasonic Testing at Rail Mill: Ultrasonic testing of rail is done at higher
speed upto 2.0 mtr/sec. There are two types of systems are used commonly named as Water Jet and Water Gap. Every
system has its own advantages and disadvantages. However main objective is to comply requirement of
standards/specification in term of sensitivity and scanning coverage.
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Table. 1 Example of few common Standards of Online Ultrasonic Testing of Rail

Sl No Standards/Specification Reference Reflector/Threshold Level Scanning Coverage

1 IRS – T – 12 – 2009
(IRS - Indian Railway
Standard Specification)
2 EN – 13674 – 2011
(EN – Euro Norm
/European Standard)
Head : 1.5 mm dia through hole. Not specified
Web : 2.0 mm dia through hole.
Web & foot junction : 2.0 mm dia through hole.
Foot : 0.5mm deep, 12.5mm long and
1.0mm wide notch (inclined at 20° with vertical
axis).
Head : 2x2 Flat Bottom Hole(Diameter – 2.0mm Head - at least 70 %.
each). Web - at least 60 %
2.0mm diameter through hole. Foot – As specified with
Web: Flat bottomed holes 2.0 mm diameter sketch in EN – 13674.
drilled to centre line of web.
Foot: 2 mm diameter through hole at web-foot
junction.

5.1 Water Jet System: In this method probes are fixed in position and away from rail surface. It follows immersion
principle. Single crystal probes are used. There is water column (laminar flow) between probe and rail surface.
Figure.9 represents a typical system of water jet system

Figure. 9 A typical line diagram of water jet Ultrasonic Testing System of Flat Bottom Railway Rails
 NDE2019, 074, v2: ’Significance Of NDT For Monitoring Of Manufacturing Flaws In Rail . . . 5

5.1.1 Advantage of water jet system:

a) Maintenance cost less.

b) Non-contact and no probe wear & tear due to friction with rail.
c) Calibration time is less.
d) Section changeover and setting of the system time is less.

5.1.2 Disadvantage of water jet system:

a) Maintaining laminar flow continuously is a challenge.

b) Water turbulence is significant issue during testing.
c) Untested zone significant. Untested area is around 5 mm.
d) Surface roughness increase the width of interface echo.
e) Water jet probe will not detect inclined notch (i.e. angular scanning).
f) Possibility of missing of flaw in case movement of rail along Y axis. (Fig. 10 A and Fig. 10 B)

Fig. 10-A Flaw detected – No axial movement Fig. 10-B Flaw not detected – Axial movement of rail

5.2 Water Gap System: In this method probes touches to rail surface and maintain a predetermined position followed
by guided roller. Probes are fixed to a probe holder. It follows contact ultrasonic principle. Thin water gap is
maintained as couplant. Double crystal probes are used. Probes remain it’s position during testing. Figure.10
represents a typical diagram of water gap system.

5.2.1 Advantage of water gap system:

a) No possibility of water turbulence.

b) Untested area is less than 2 mm.
c) No possibility of missing flaw due to axial movement since probes are guided by individual roller assembly.

5.2.2 Disadvantage of water gap system:

a) Probe wear & tear since it is contact testing.

b) Maintenance cost is high.
c) Section changeover and setting of the system time is more.
d) System can be set to detect any kind of flaw. Angle beam inspection possible.
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Figure. 10 A typical line diagram of water gap Ultrasonic Testing System of Flat Bottom Railway Rails

6.0 Conclusion: Safety is the utmost priority in case of rail. Detectability is the prime consideration. It is very
evident that water gap ultrasonic testing system is more reliable in term of detection of flaw though it’s not economical
since maintenance cost is higher and calibration time is more. However, detectability and reliability of water jet system
can be enhanced by using more number of probes by overlapping scanning coverage so that flaw is not missed even
there is axial movement.

7.0 Future Direction: It could be suggested keeping on view of productivity and reliability of rail that following
methods can be adopted for online/automatic Ultrasonic testing at manufacturing stage. These methods are already
being used successfully for detection of flaw in rail during service condition. However, adoption of these methods are
subjected to successful experiment and direction of relevant standard/specification for detection of flaw at
manufacturing stage.

A. Phased Array: Automated phased array ultrasonic testing can increase detectability of flaw in rail oriented in
different angle resulting higher degree of reliability and safety. One side scanning will be an advantage.

B. Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer: Benefit of this method is that, there will be no coupling issue further and
inspection speed is faster.

C. Laser Ultrasonic: This method can be used for testing at higher speed without affecting detectability.

References
1. Nordco Rail service and inspection technology booklet
2. Track Inspector Rail Defect Reference Manual– US Department of Transportation
3. Rail Defect Handbook – ARTC
4. Development of an Improved Rail Flaw Detection System. Jeff Wigh - Herzog Services Inc.
 NDE2019, 074, v2: ’Significance Of NDT For Monitoring Of Manufacturing Flaws In Rail . . . 7

5. Development of a prototype EMAT system for inspection of rails – US Department of Transportation

6. Automatic laser ultrasonic for rail inspection
S. A. Nielsen1, A. L. Bardenshtein, A. M. Thommesen, and B. Stenum
Sensor & NDE Innovation Division, FORCE Technology, 2605 Brøndby, Denmark
Optics and Plasma Research Dept., Risø National Laboratory, 4000 Roskilde, DK