In recent days, many areas have experienced continuous high temperature weather, and the daytime temperature often reaches about 38 degrees. In the scorching sun, the rails were so hot that even the air was hot. At this time, people may wonder: will those dark looking wooden sleepers under the railway track be "dried", cracked and deformed, and even affect the safety of the train, just like the wood stored at home for a long time? In particular, many of these sleepers are made of pine. The structure of pine itself is relatively loose, which is easier to lose water and deform. Don't worry, this is the time for anticorrosive sleepers to show their unique advantages.

Starting point of pine sleeper: controlling moisture is the key

Pine wood is straight, strong and relatively easy to process. It is a good material for sleepers. However, the internal moisture content of the newly cut pine wood is relatively high. If this "wet wood" is directly used for processing, the wood is prone to deformation and cracking in the subsequent slow drying process. Therefore, the first and key step in making sleepers is to dry pine logs. The more economical and practical way is natural air drying. The dried pine sleeper blank has a more stable structure, laying a solid foundation for subsequent "upgrading".

Core metamorphosis: oil immersed for corrosion prevention, water locked for protection

The dried sleepers will go through the most important process - oil immersion anti-corrosion treatment. That is, under a certain pressure and temperature, the anti-corrosion oil will strongly penetrate into the deeper layers of the pine wood.

This "oiling" process brings two core benefits:

1. deep anti-corrosion and insect prevention: the anti-corrosion oil soaked in wood can effectively kill or inhibit the fungi and borers that cause wood decay, and greatly prolong the service life of sleepers.

2. lock the moisture and stabilize the structure: This is the key to resist high temperature drying! The preservative oil immersed in the wood, like a layer of "armor", plays a role in stabilizing the internal moisture ratio. Even if the external environment becomes very dry (such as high-temperature exposure), the original moisture in the wood is not easy to be lost quickly and in large quantities. At the same time, the anti-corrosion oil penetrating into the wood surface and pores also forms a dense protective layer on the sleeper surface, which can effectively prevent the invasion of external moisture (such as rain and underground moisture) and reduce the external evaporation of internal moisture.

Performance under high temperature: stability is the last word

Under such continuous high temperature exposure, the internal moisture of ordinary dry wood will accelerate the evaporation loss. With the rapid loss of water, the wood shrinks severely, which is prone to bending, warping, or obvious cracks on the end and surface.

But the anticorrosive sleepers are different. The water "wrapped" and "locked" by the anti-corrosion oil inside it will lose much more slowly under high temperature. The internal "core" moisture content remains relatively stable, and the shrinkage stress of wood due to water loss is much smaller, which greatly reduces the risk of deformation and cracking. Therefore, even in the hot sun, the anti-corrosion sleepers we see can still keep straight, firmly fix the spike and rail, and ensure the smoothness and safety of the track.

Therefore, these seemingly ordinary black sleepers laid on the railway line are actually carefully "forged". They are not afraid of being eaten and decayed by insects, nor are they afraid of being soaked in rain. Similarly, they will not easily lose water and deform under the continuous high temperature exposure in the hot summer. It is this inherent stability that enables them to bear the huge pressure and harsh environment year after year and in obscurity, and steadily support the safe operation of the steel dragon. High temperature only proves the value of this process once again.