Further opportunities in railway structures through innovations in materials and processes
Application to innovative door leaves
Application to innovative door leaves
Nowadays, the materials used in the serial production of train door leaves and sub-systems are mainly metals like standard steel or aluminium grades. These doors are usually made using a sandwich structure, with assembly of other components and sub-systems by standard joining procedures (fastening, welding...).
At the same time the effort of using composite or multi material solutions for structural applications in different industries has increased lately offering exceptional performance and light weight compared to traditional metallic materials. Nevertheless, in this aspect the railway sector is still underdeveloped in comparison to the automotive or aerospace industries, which widely use composite materials as structural parts that increase the efficiency of the crafts by significantly reducing their weight without compromising their mechanical performances. The limitations for usage in general production for railway structures are well-known by the major companies. However, work is in progress at these companies to mitigate these limitations. |
Illustration of current metallic train door leaves
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Mat4Rail will pursue an innovative approach based on the search for optimised multi-material solutions through the utilisation of different robust design and analysis methods integrated in a systematic innovation strategy.
Concerning the technologies, the project partners will take advantage of the latest developments in new materials (resins, foams/cores, composites, new metallic alloys etc.), manufacturing processes (out-of-autoclave, one-shot processes) and joining/integration techniques (adhesives, welding processes, mechanical fasteners etc.) taking into account the production costs, the manufacturing aspects and the railway constraints applicable specifically to the door systems. To this end, Mat4Rail brings together partners from the composite (Coexpair) and aluminium (ASAŞ) processing technologies, as well as specialised research partners (ITAINNOVA and University of Bremen). For example, regarding advances in metallic alloys, ASAS contributes with new aluminium alloys (EN AW 6005 and 6082) that not only present ease of fabrication, good weldability and corrosion resistance, but also with higher mechanical strength than commonly used 6060. As a result light and thin section train material/doors can be designed and produced permitting profile’s wallthickness with less than 1 mm, allowing novel configurations.
Additionally, since Coexpair is a supplier of most advanced solutions for production of composite parts in the aeronautics sector, their experience is also expected to help develop new door concepts and compare them to the current designs.
The benchmark shows that previous R&D projects successfully demonstrated the capabilities to design and to manufacture lightweight doors that can meet technical and safety requirements, including fire, smoke and toxicity regulations. But major companies still have to mitigate other limitations such as lowering costs for economic viability. This economical limitation is taken into account by partners and efforts are focused on developing low-cost novelties based on multi-material and hybrid solutions.
Composite processes present some concrete advantages. Among others, only one-shot injection of the full door part is needed instead of several operations (as cutting of metal sheet and section, surface preparation, assembly by adhesive bonding or using rivets and fasteners, intermediate controls etc.) lowering in this way the cost / performance
Concerning the technologies, the project partners will take advantage of the latest developments in new materials (resins, foams/cores, composites, new metallic alloys etc.), manufacturing processes (out-of-autoclave, one-shot processes) and joining/integration techniques (adhesives, welding processes, mechanical fasteners etc.) taking into account the production costs, the manufacturing aspects and the railway constraints applicable specifically to the door systems. To this end, Mat4Rail brings together partners from the composite (Coexpair) and aluminium (ASAŞ) processing technologies, as well as specialised research partners (ITAINNOVA and University of Bremen). For example, regarding advances in metallic alloys, ASAS contributes with new aluminium alloys (EN AW 6005 and 6082) that not only present ease of fabrication, good weldability and corrosion resistance, but also with higher mechanical strength than commonly used 6060. As a result light and thin section train material/doors can be designed and produced permitting profile’s wallthickness with less than 1 mm, allowing novel configurations.
Additionally, since Coexpair is a supplier of most advanced solutions for production of composite parts in the aeronautics sector, their experience is also expected to help develop new door concepts and compare them to the current designs.
The benchmark shows that previous R&D projects successfully demonstrated the capabilities to design and to manufacture lightweight doors that can meet technical and safety requirements, including fire, smoke and toxicity regulations. But major companies still have to mitigate other limitations such as lowering costs for economic viability. This economical limitation is taken into account by partners and efforts are focused on developing low-cost novelties based on multi-material and hybrid solutions.
Composite processes present some concrete advantages. Among others, only one-shot injection of the full door part is needed instead of several operations (as cutting of metal sheet and section, surface preparation, assembly by adhesive bonding or using rivets and fasteners, intermediate controls etc.) lowering in this way the cost / performance
Airbus A320 frontward door manufactured (one-shot injection) by Coexpair
Based on Coexpair’s previous experience in the IMS&CPS project (EU-funded FP7 project, including an economic analysis of a composite wagon composite panel), it is known that a low-cost target can be achieved for a composite railway structure with a repeatable Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) process.
The improvement of manufacturing processes will also be evaluated as a means to reach the target cost. This will include an automation evaluation of the different steps of the manufacturing of composite parts.
Over time the innovative door development will contribute to sustainable transportation by allowing a reduced energy usage through lightweight approaches for transport. This will allow future transport to consume less energy than is currently the case. Through increasing capacity using new lightweight materials, transport systems will carrying more passengers or freight with greater efficiency.
The improvement of manufacturing processes will also be evaluated as a means to reach the target cost. This will include an automation evaluation of the different steps of the manufacturing of composite parts.
Over time the innovative door development will contribute to sustainable transportation by allowing a reduced energy usage through lightweight approaches for transport. This will allow future transport to consume less energy than is currently the case. Through increasing capacity using new lightweight materials, transport systems will carrying more passengers or freight with greater efficiency.
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