Photo courtesy of ANDRITZ Schuler
ANDRITZ Schuler recently unveiled its latest innovation in ring rolling technology at its Erfurt site to potential clients. Destined for a railway wheel manufacturer in Kazakhstan, the ring roller is designed to produce rings with diameters of up to 2,000mm and heights of up to 400mm. Commissioning at the customer’s facility is scheduled for the spring of 2026.
The complete production line represents a showcase of modern forging automation and digitalisation. Alongside the ring roller, the line features a rotary hearth furnace for heating blanks, forging robots for automation, a 10,000-tonne press for producing the ring preform, a marking press, two laser measuring units, a 1,000-tonne open-die forging press for railway axle production, and heat treatment equipment for various products. All relevant production data is captured and documented using the
Metris Track and Trace automation and digitalisation solution, making it available for evaluation and production optimisation.
During the demonstration, customers from the forging industry observed the newly developed system in action, with a radial force of 200-tonnes and an axial force of 160-tonnes. A wheel tyre was rolled from a red-hot ring preform, and as the rolling process progressed, the diameter of the part increased—a hallmark of the ring rolling process. The well-known railway wheel profile, including the wheel flange, was formed on the outer surface.
A notable feature of the ANDRITZ Schuler ring roller is its upper bearing for the mandrel roller, which can be locked at different heights. The company said: “This means that mandrels of different lengths can be used, which can be ideally adapted to the respective ring height. For this reason, thin and short mandrels can be used with high rolling forces.”
The new system is set to bring greater flexibility and efficiency to railway wheel production, underpinned by advanced automation and comprehensive data tracking.