Rail splitting hammer - GIF

[Altair]

Rail splitting hammer.




Previously:

Power hammer - video
Howrah steam hammer - videos and photos
Treadle hammer - video
Chinese axe head power hammer - GIF
Enormous power hammer - video

[IAMSatisfied]

I wonder if American rails are that brittle... what's shown here appears to me to behave more like cast iron than the forged 1084 steel that U.S. rails are made from.

[mwmkravchenko]

I wonder if American rails are that brittle... what's shown here appears to me to behave more like cast iron than the forged 1084 steel that U.S. rails are made from.

You really think that rails in China would be any less robust? Doesn't make any sense to go through all the effort to install a rail bed and then install inferior rails. The Chinese are indeed very practical. Stuff like that would not fly very far.

[desbromilow]

I can't speak on the specifics, but there IS a difference between rail grades coming out of China vs Japan. I know a couple of iron ore companies do a reciprocal deal with China where they send iron ore over, and get a discount on rail coming back. According to the Speno rail guy, that railway track doesn't last anywhere near as long as the Japanese rail other iron ore companies in the same region buy. One of the users of Japanese rail has far larger tonnages per day over the track than the ones using chinese rail.

[Toolmaker51]

China neither special or gifted. When half the customers find unsatisfactory adherence to specifications, that doesn't mean the other half is ok.

[IAMSatisfied]

Here's an interesting article comparing Chinese steel and American steel: https://gensteel.com/building-faqs/b...steel-quality/

"There have been a large number of reports of Chinese steel quality issues. Between 2011 and 2012 eight bridges in China, using Chinese steel, collapsed. In 2008 an earthquake struck the Sichuan province, and in one steel school that was poorly built, 700 children were crushed to death."

While it may not "make sense" to our minds for them to use low quality steel in vital infrastructure, they still do it a whole lot more than we do in the U.S.

[Toolmaker51]

Metallurgy to formulate and product testing are recognized broadly, even different tests have equivalents worked out that proves results.
Sometimes I just need a drill bit. . .don't trust who can't even make decent 1018!

[Moldyjim]

My understanding is the high manganese content of the rails (even in the US ) is what makes this possible.
I have seen rails that were notched and broken in half fairly cleanly.
The High Manganese is to help create a work hardening surface on the wear surface of the steel.

[Unkle Fuzzy]

While the Chinese do execute those who accept graft in exchange for looking the other way when defective products come in, the graft still seems worth the risk to some officials.

In some cases it's just plain ignorance.

[mwmkravchenko]

My understanding is the high manganese content of the rails (even in the US ) is what makes this possible.
I have seen rails that were notched and broken in half fairly cleanly.
The High Manganese is to help create a work hardening surface on the wear surface of the steel.

Yep. I have a friend that removed thousands of miles of track all over North America. I helped him remove a quarter mile. Track is designed to both work harden and be able to be broken with relatively simple tools. Because it is hardened in certain points you can break it like this in the first place.