1.

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad

in 1894 built a special lightweight car with
aluminium seat frames.
2. All aluminium hopper cars for freight have
been built in 1933.
3. In 1933 at Worlds Fair in Chicago, the first
two main-line, all aluminium, passenger rail
road cars were exhibited.
4. In December 2006, FreightCar America,
celebrated the delivery of 1,00,000th
aluminium car .
A. LIGHT WEIGHT
B. CORROSION RESISTANCE
C. OVERALL DURABILITY
D. HIGH STRENGTH TO WEIGHT RATIO
E. IMPROVED AERODYNAMICS & LOWER
WIND RESISTANCE BY ALUMINIUM SIDE
WALL SHEETS
F. NO NEED FOR PAINITING
G. LOW MAINTENANCE COSTS AND LONG
SYSTEM LIFE
 INTERNALLY-STIFFENED LARGE HOLLOW
EXTRUSTIONS TO FABRICATE MOVEABLE
SIDE WALLS FOR FREIGHT CARS.
THE ABOVE DESIGN DEMANDS LESS
WELDING, SIGNIFICANTLY LIGHTER, CAN
BE MANIPULATED BY SINGLE WORKER
AL-Mg-Si ALLOY (STRENGTH. 6XXX) USED
FOR THE ABOVE PURPOSE OFFERS HIGH
CORROSION RESISTANCE, EXCELLENT
EXTRUDABILITY AND MODERATE
 ALUMINIUM FREIGHT CARS RETAIN A
HIGH SALVAGE VALUE WHEN RECYCLED
AT THE END OF THEIR LIFE CYCLES.,
ABOUT 90% OF THEIR ORIGINAL
MANUFACTURED COST.
 USED IN COMMUTER AND PASSENGER
RAIL CATEGORY WHICH RANGES FROM
LIGHT RAIL, COMMUTER AND METRO
TRAINS.
THE STRUCTURE CONSISTS OF
LONGITUDINAL EXTRUSIONS WHICH ARE
WELDED WITH HORIZONTAL MEMBERS
THAT ARE ATTACHED AROUND DOORS
AND WINDOWS
 THE RESULTANT STIFF STRUCTURE IS
ABLE TO HANDLE COMPLEX LOADS AND
AERODYNAMIC FORCES THAT RESULT
FROM GOING THHROUGH TUNNELS,
WHICH IS ABOUT TWO THIRDS OF THE
WEIGHT OF A COMPARABLE STRUCTURE
FABRICATED FROM STEEL.
THIS WEIGHT REDUCTION IS SIGNIFICANT
IN TERMS OF ENERGY SAVINGS IN
SERVICE.
 FOR FREIGHT APPLICATIONS FOR
TRANSPORT OF ORES AND MINERALS.
ALUMINIUM VEHICLE CARRIER (AVC)
FOR AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
USED IN HIGH SPEED TRAINS LIFE
TRANSRAPID (GERMANY) AND JAPAN
(MLX01) AND SHINKANSEN.
 Al-Mg ALLOY (5XXX) AND Al-Mg-Si (6xxx)
ALLOY SERIES ARE USED.
5XXX VARIETY IS NOT HEAT TREABLE BUT
CAN BE STRENGTHENED BY COLD WORK.
THEY OFFER MODERATE STRENFGTH AND
EXCELLENT CORROSION REISTANCE AND
WELDABILITY.
6XXX ALLOYS ARE HEAT TREABLE AND
OFFER HIGHER STRENGTH, GOOD
CORROSION PERFOMANCE AND GOOD
WELDABILITY.
 COMMONLY USED SHEET AND PLATES ARE
MADE UP OF ALLOYS SUCH AS 5052, 5083, 5086,
5454 AND 6061.
EXTRUSIONS MATERIALS ARE 5083, 6061 AND TO
A LESSER DEGREE 7005.
NEW ALLOYS SUCH AS 5059, 5983 AND 6082 ARE
ALSO USED FOR RAILCAR APPLICATIONS.
5356 OR 5556 IS RECOMMENDED FOR
CONVENTIONAL FUSION WELDING PROCESES.
HIGH STRENGTH 7XXX AND 2XXX VARIETIES
WERE NOT USED BECAUSE OF POOR
WELDABILITY AND CORROSION PERFORMANCE.
 SCANDIUM WHEN ADDED TO
ALUMINIUM IN THE RANGE 0.1-0.2%
IMPROVED MECHANICAL PROPERTIES,
REFINED THE MICROSTRUCTURE OF
WROUGHT ALUMINIUM ALLOYS AND
IMPROVED WELDABILITY BY REDUCING
HOT CRACKING IN THE WELD REGION.
A TYPICAL EXAMPLE INCLUDE 6061
ALLOY.
 A STUDY OF WELDING OF SCANDIUM
CONTAINING 5XXX, 6XXX AND 7XXX
ALUMINIUM VARITIES BY FRICTION STIR
WELDING HAVE PROVED THAT SCANDIUM
REDUCED THE STRENGTH OF 6061 AND DID
NOT REFINE THE GRAIN SIZE.
IN THE CASE OF THE 5456 ALLOY, THE
ADDITION OF SCANDIUM DID REFINE THE
GRAIN STRUCTURE AND IMPROVE
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES, HOWEER, THE
INTERGRANULA CORROSION PERFORMANCE
WAS ADVERSELY IMPACTED.
IN THE CASE OF 7XXX ALLOY, SCANDIUM
ADDITIONS IMPROVED MECHANICAL
PROPERTIES, WELDABILITY AND CORROSION
RESISTANCE EXCEPT EXTRUSION RATE.
 FSW IS AN IDEAL PROCESS FOR THE BUTT
WELDING OF ALUMINIUM BECAUSE ..
1. TOOLING COSTS ARE RELATIVELY LOW
2. RELATIVELY LOW MELTING
TEMPERATURE ENSURES THAT THE
WEAR OF THE SPINNING TOOL AND THE
FORCES REQUIRED FOR THE WELDING
PROCESS ARE MUCH REDUCED.