Jae-Moon Im/Kwang-Bok Shin
International Journal of Railway, vol. 12, no. 2, pp.23-27, 2019

Abstract : The present article describes the technology for weight lightening of railway vehicles based on the application of composite materials. The conventional railway vehicles were produced by using steel or stainless steel, and aluminum has been applied to reduce the weight. Recently, studies are conducted to the application of composite materials. The composite materials, although being light, require the consideration of design conditions that are different from the conventional metallic materials. However, composite materials are necessary to reduce the weight of railway vehicles in order to accomplish a high energy efficiency. This article describes various applications of composite materials to railway vehicles and introduces the examples of applying a composite lattice structure to obtain an additional weight-lightening effect.

Keyword : Composite materials, Light weight railway vehicle, Composite lattice structure