A Comprehensive Review on Metal Matrix Composites for Railway Applications

Abstract

The railways produce the backbone of all passengers, transporting goods and economies. Railway compartments play a critical role in safety and track performance in rail transportation. Composite-based sleeper is developed into an adequate substitute for recovering the existing steel, concrete, and specifically timber sleeper in heavy- haul rail and mainline networks. Composite sleeper methodologies are earlier abundant, but they have captured restricted acceptance from the railway industry. Presently, the composite sleeper methodologies are significant, ranging from sleepers created with recycled components initiating from construction waste, rubber, and plastic. While these recycled components based sleepers are lower price, the primary issues of utilizing this these kinds of sleepers are their limited dynamics, stiffness, strength characteristics that, in most conditions, are incompatible with those of conventional timber, steel, or concrete sleepers. The essential for novel material with standard features have paved the path to developing and emerging components from metal matrix composites. Parts that acquire prescribed characteristics, like including strength, good toughness, higher resistance from corrosion, and wear in their fibrous medium are favorably reinforced with fundamental metal to fabricate metal matric composites. In this review paper, the components of railway systems, different types of fabricating metal matrix composites, issues while conducting experiments, sustainability, life cycle assessment, and waste management are explored together with the present complexities opposing their whole market avenue.