An Example in Steel Casting
The Ice Cleat on the M1 Abrams Tank
The
Application The M1 Abrams tank
uses rubber pads on the track to provide traction and reduce track noise. But
under icy road conditions in hilly terrain, the rubber pads on the track loose
traction, just like automobile tires loose traction on snow and ice in winter. On
your car, you install tire chains in winter. The Army uses "ice cleats" on
the track of the M1 tank to give more "bite" and to provide traction on icy,
hilly roads and terrain. The "ice cleats" are steel plates with an X-shaped cleat extending out from the base. They are substituted for the rubber pads on every fifth shoe on the tank track. Each tank uses two sets of 32 ice cleats for winter traction. |
M1 Abrams Tank on a Winter Road |
Ice Cleat
Description The ice cleat
weighs approximately 8 pounds and has a footprint of 6" x 7"
and a height of 2 ". It is bolted to the track shoe using the same mounting
system used for the rubber pads. The current ice cleat design calls for a heat-treated forging made from 4140 or 4340 steel alloy for high strength and toughness to survive road abrasion and impact at sub-zero temperatures. The finished cleat requires dimensional tolerances on the order of 0.06" to fit snuggly into the track shoe. The only machining requirements are a drilled and tapped hole for the mounting stud and 3 milled locator pads on the flat face of the cleat.
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Track Section with Steel Ice Cleat |
Acknowledgement -- |
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Last Modified December, 1998 by STG Copyright 1995 - '98 by Steel Founders' Society Of America. All rights reserved. Address Comments to:monroe@sfsa.org |