Album: Thermit Welding

Photographs of an instance of in-situ thermit (aluminothermic) welding of a rail joint.

Series of pic showing how rails are welded using "Alumino Thermit Welding", commonly known as "Long Welded Rails". Pic no: 1 - workers make a sand mould around at the joint between two rails. Jimmy Jose.

Pic no: 2 - Gas pressure is being built up to heat the rails to red hot. Jimmy Jose.

Pic no: 3 - The rails are being heated to red hot using the gas mixture. Jimmy Jose.

Pic no: 4 - The conical container that will be used to hold the alloy used for welding is being put to place. Jimmy Jose.

Pic no: 5 - The conical vessel is being filled with the welding alloy. Jimmy Jose.

Pic no: 6 - The vessel is placed on top of the rails to be welded. The alloy is ignited by the heat from below. Jimmy Jose.

Pic no: 7 - The alloy literally catches fire. Jimmy Jose.

Pic no: 8 - The alloy melts and pour into the mould and even on to the rails below. One can imagine it's temperature from the colour of the metal. Jimmy Jose.

Pic no: 9 - The complete molten alloy has fallen on to the mould. The conical container is removed and workers wait a few minutes for the weld to cool. Jimmy Jose.

Pic no: 10 - Workers break the mould using hammers and showels. The joint is left in the open air to cool slowly. Jimmy Jose.

this gives an idea of thermit welding of 60 kg rail. (deepak verma)

red hot thermit welding ,lot of fumes generates during process (deepak verma)

Preheating the ends of the rails before thermite welding.Location:Near Patra River Bridge,Bhopal. (Shan H Fernandes)