Thermite welding of railways rails : Basic chemical reaction

Basic chemical reaction
Thermite welding of railways rails

Author : Raymond DEROCHE

Review date: February 13, 2026 | Lire en français

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1. Basic chemical reaction

Fine-grained aluminum is reacted with fine-grained oxides (hot-rolling scale); two reactions are possible:

the first is between aluminium and iron monoxide :
$3 FeO + 2 AI = 3 Fe + {AI}_{2} O_{3}$
The oxidation ratio, i.e. oxygen/aluminium, is TO = 3 × 16 / 2 × 27 = 0.888 ;
since the rolling oxide also contains Fe₃O₄ , the following reaction also occurs:
$3 {Fe}_{3} O_{4} + 8 AI = 9 Fe + 4 {AI}_{2} O_{3}$
The...

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Basic chemical reaction

(1) - BENARD (J.) - Oxydation des métaux. - Tome 1 (1962).
(2) - LEVENSPIEL (O.) - Chemical reaction engineering. - Illinois Institute of Technology, Dpt. of Chemical Engineering (1965).
(3)...

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