Method and device for welding components, which can be travelled upon, of a track by flash butt welding

A method for welding components, which can be travelled upon, of a track by flash butt welding in a welding device, comprising:

• straight flashing;
• preheating;
• flashing;
• and
• upsetting;
• wherein the upsetting process generates a welding region, whereupon the welding region, from the welding heat, is subjected to a cooling step in which an austenitic structure of the welding region is converted into a pearlite structure, whereupon the welding region is subjected to a reheating step in which the welding region is heated to above the Ac1 conversion temperature;
• wherein the heating is performed by electrical resistance heating in the welding device using a welding power source that is used for the straight flashing, preheating and flashing, whereupon a region of the component coming into contact with a wheel is subjected to accelerated cooling in the welding region, and a region not coming into contact with the wheel is subjected to slower cooling in the welding region than the region of the component coming into contact with the wheel.

A welding device for welding components, which can be travelled upon, of a track by flash butt welding, comprising:

• a welding power source;
• a feed device for pressing the track components against one another;
• a programmable control unit for controlling a time sequence of current pulses of the welding power source and a feed movement of the feed device;
• and
• a cooling device for accelerated cooling of a welding region
• wherein the control unit is configured to control the feed device and the welding power source in a welding phase in order to perform straight flashing, preheating, flashing, and upsetting, the welding region being generated by the upsetting process;
• wherein the control unit is configured to control the welding power source in a subsequent reheating phase to perform a reheating step, and to start the reheating step after a cooling step in which the welding region is cooled from the welding heat;
• and
• wherein the control unit interacts with the cooling device so that the region coming into contact with a wheel is subjected to accelerated cooling in the welding region after the reheating step, and a region not coming into contact with the wheel is subjected to slower cooling in the welding region than the region of the component coming into contact with the wheel.