Application of aluminum in railway and urban rail transit

In recent years, with the development of China's economy, urban and inter urban rail transit has also entered a period of rapid development, which has also brought a sharp increase in the demand for rail transit vehicles. But at the same time, the problems of energy shortage and environmental degradation also put forward higher requirements for the development of rail transit vehicles. Aluminum and aluminum alloy materials are emerging from many materials because of their light weight, excellent formability, high strength, corrosion resistance and high recycling rate. In the manufacturing of a series of rail transit equipment, the Aluminization rate is increasing. Especially in developed industrial countries such as Europe, America and Japan, the application of aluminum and aluminum materials in transportation equipment manufacturing industry continues to increase, and has achieved good economic and social benefits. Although China's aluminum and aluminum materials have also made great progress in the application of transportation equipment manufacturing industry in recent years, there is still a certain gap compared with developed industrial countries such as Europe, America and Japan, which also means that there is still a certain development space for aluminum materials for rail transit in China.

Application of aluminum in railway and urban rail transit

China has entered the era of high-speed rail, and the demand for aluminum materials of EMUs has increased

With the rapid operation of urban economy and increasingly frequent personnel flow, intercity high-speed railway will become an important driving force for regional development in the future. China has entered the peak of high-speed railway construction.

According to the data released by the Ministry of railways, by the end of October 2010, China's high-speed railway network in operation had a total length of 7431 kilometers, ranking first in the world, and will increase to 3000 kilometers before 2012. This includes new high-speed connections and existing tracks upgraded for trains with speeds of 200-250 km / h. By 2020, China will build a "four vertical and four horizontal" intercity rapid passenger transport system, with passenger dedicated lines of more than 60000 kilometers. China's high-speed rail, which is ready to go, has a bright future, and China has entered the era of high-speed rail.

In addition to China, China's high-speed railway is also extending abroad. Wang Mengshu, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering, once said that China plans to build a high-speed railway network in China

It extends to 17 countries in Russia, Central Asia and East Asia with a view to completion in 2025. The construction of high-speed railway has brought demand for multiple units. At present, among the four types of crhi, CRH2, CRH3 and CRH5 used for multiple units of China's railway passenger dedicated line, except that the crhi body is made of stainless steel, the other three types of multiple units are made of aluminum alloy. Due to the characteristics of materials With the modernization of and welding methods, high-speed trains with a speed of more than 250 kilometers per hour must be made of aluminum alloy.

With the construction of intercity passenger transport system and the continuous extension of high-speed rail network abroad, the demand for aluminum materials of EMUs will continue to increase. With the development of China's high-speed rail and EMU technology, China's high-speed rail has gone abroad to undertake world high-speed rail projects. China's Ministry of Railways has signed memorandums of cooperation with Russia and GE company of the United States. China's EMUs are also exported to Australia Asia, the Philippines, Tunisia, Ghana and other countries. It is believed that in the future, with the export of China's high-speed railway and EMU technology to foreign countries, the demand for aluminum materials of EMUs will continue to rise.

China C80 coal gondola has great potential in aluminum application

In recent years, the demand for coal, nonferrous metals and other bulk commodities has soared due to China's economic development. Due to the unbalanced distribution of resources and industrial layout, the transportation of bulk raw materials mainly depends on railways, resulting in the shortage of railway material transportation capacity. Experts predict that China's GDP will continue to grow at a rapid rate in the next 15 years, and the demand for various materials will increase significantly, which will have a great impact on transportation According to preliminary estimates, the national railway freight transport demand will reach 4 billion tons by 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 4%. As the main mode of transportation, railway must provide transportation capacity suitable for market demand.

High speed and heavy load are the development direction of railway transportation in the future, and the lightweight of railway vehicles is an important way to realize high speed and heavy load.

Aluminum is undoubtedly the best lightweight material. As early as the 1950s, some more developed countries in the world began to use aluminum alloy materials to manufacture railway vehicles, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, etc. among them, the United States was the earliest and most mature country in the application of aluminum alloy coal gondola technology. China did not complete the first batch of 21 Manufacturing of 0 C80 aluminum alloy coal gondola cars.

The research data of Shangqing era show that aluminum coal truck has obvious advantages over steel truck. Compared with C76 steel bathtub gondola, C80 aluminum alloy coal gondola in China has reduced the body by 5 tons, and 19 tons compared with C63A gondola. Under the condition of constant total vehicle weight, it has greatly improved the effective load of the vehicle. In addition, aluminum alloy coal gondola can save fuel, reduce greenhouse gas emissions It has the advantages of long service life, light corrosion and low operation and maintenance cost.

According to the calculation, although the C80 aluminum alloy coal gondola is slightly more expensive than the carbon steel coal gondola and has higher initial investment, due to its incomparable advantages, the comprehensive benefits of C80 aluminum alloy coal gondola exceed the carbon steel coal gondola after the fifth year of use. In addition, the aluminum coal gondola has a service life of 30 years and can be used for 10 years more than the steel one The economic benefits are very obvious. Compared with the C80B stainless steel coal gondola, which is developing rapidly, C80 aluminum alloy coal gondola also has its advantages. According to the calculation of an application enterprise, the weight of aluminum alloy is 700 kg lighter than that of stainless steel. On the line with a total length of more than 600 kilometers, each vehicle will increase the income by 37000 yuan per year. Assuming that the vehicle has been used for 25-30 years, the total energy will be more The income is 700000-800000 yuan.

Because aluminum alloy coal gondola has greater economic benefits than steel vehicles, aluminum platform gold coal vehicles have been widely used in the United States ■ according to American metal market news Report: the delivery volume of coal trucks in 2009 was 60000, an increase of 50% over 2005, of which 27% were aluminum vehicles. So far, the United States has produced more than 100000 aluminum alloy coal trucks. At present, the total ownership of C80 aluminum alloy coal gondola in China is only about 10000, only 62% of the delivery volume of the United States in 2009. The extensive use of aluminum alloy coal gondola in the United States has been verified It is believed that with the continuous embodiment of the advantages of aluminum alloy coal gondola in use and the deepening understanding of aluminum alloy coal gondola in the industry, aluminum alloy coal gondola will have a great development space in China.

The development of urban rail transit in China drives the growth of aluminum demand

With the rapid development of China's economy and the acceleration of urbanization, China's urban rail transit industry has entered a new stage of leapfrog development. Li Xiaojiang, director of the metro and light rail center of the Ministry of housing and urban rural development and President of China urban planning and Design Institute, said: by the end of 2009, the state had approved the recent construction plans of rail transit in 25 cities. At present, rail transit is under construction in the mainland The total length of rail transit lines is 1400 kilometers, and 2610 kilometers of new rail transit lines will be started. During the 12th Five Year Plan period, the investment in rail transit construction may exceed 700 billion yuan, second only to railways and expressways. The Market Research Institute of Shangqing era predicts that the mileage of urban rail transit in China will reach 1500 km in 2010, 2100 km in 2015 and 3000-3500 km in 2020.

At present, aluminum materials for domestic rail transit vehicles have been basically localized, and Midas aluminum, Zhongwang holdings, jungle aluminum and Nanshan aluminum can produce such high-performance aluminum materials.

The next 10 years will be 10 years for the construction and development of rail transit in large and medium-sized cities in China. With the rapid development of rail transit construction, aluminum for rail transit will also usher in development opportunities. The excellent characteristics of aluminum and the improvement of domestic aluminum production and application technology make the development prospect of industrial aluminum profile in the field of vehicle lightweight very optimistic. It can be predicted that industrial aluminum profile will make great achievements in China's booming rail transit market.