Stone Wool for Anti-Vibration Mats
30 April 2009
Track engineers often encounter conflicting demands when designing a track system. On the one hand they seek uncompromised track stability ensuring safety and comfort for the passengers and low maintenance cost for the track owner; on the other hand they must have a track that is sufficiently soft – typically by means of the deliberate introduction of one or several types of resilient elements into the track structure – thereby ensuring that national standards are met with regard to ground-borne vibration levels, e.g. at nearby dwellings.
Obviously, what is sought is a resilient element that not only lives up to the basic requirements of the national accreditation in question – for instance the well-known German Railways DB BN 918-071-1 norm – but surpasses these requirements and delivers sterling performance on aspects such as constant form stability, ultra-low sensitivity to environmental factors, extended fatigue resistance and fire safety. With a special view to such performance aspects, this paper takes an in-depth look at the most important features, advantages and benefits of RockDelta's RockXolid® and RockBallast® anti-vibration mats.
Stone wool for anti-vibration mats
ROCKWOOL® stone wool, as the basis for all RockDelta products, is made from diabase volcanic rock which is mixed with coke and lime and subsequently melted in large cupola furnaces at approximately 1,500°C. The resulting melted mass is directed down onto a fast spinning wheel that whirls the melted stones mass into thin threads with an average diameter of 0.005mm. A binding agent is added and – as one of the last stages of the “hot-end” production process – the desired density of the impregnated stone wool product is selected.
This is followed by the final production step where the stone wool is hardened in special furnaces, thereby curing the binding agent. The finished ROCKWOOL® stone wool product is then ready for various “cold-end” tailoring processes, including a unique aging process that ensures outstanding long-term mechanical stability, whereby the product is turned into its designated RockXolid® or RockBallast® application.
Please see our free white paper to find out more.
