Ambient temperature: -45 ℃ ~ 70 ℃
Machinability: The same as Timber.
Service life: More than 50 years.
Maintenance costs: significantly reduced.
Lifecycle costs: Minimal.
Density: The same as wood (740kg/m3).
Electrical conductivity: Very low.
Chemical resistance: Very high.
Custom manufacture: to millimetre precision.
Sustainability: 100% recyclable.
In terms of material, composite sleepers belong to a kind of plastic railway sleepers. It's made of a new material called continuous glass fiber reinforced polyurethane foam. This kind of new material is environmentally friendly, recyclable and comes from a wide range of sources. The main components of this recycled railway sleepers include long glass fiber and polyurethane resin.
Mechanical property
The tensile strength and impact resistance of the glass fiber itself will greatly improve the strength and other mechanical properties of the plastic railway sleepers.
Hydrolytic resistance
The use of composite sleepers environment is open air, the possibility of immersion and flood impact is very large. Therefore, the hydrolytic resistance of glass fiber will greatly improve the water resistance of the recycled railway sleepers.
Corrosion resistance
Glass fiber has good corrosion resistance. This feature helps the recycled railway sleepers to effectively cope with acid rain and atmospheric corrosion.
Ageing resistance
The long glass fiber used in the plastic railway sleepers has better ageing resistance than other glass fiber. Therefore, the service life of composite sleepers can be effectively extended to 40-50 years.
Easy to shape
Polyurethane resin as a matrix material, the main function is to bond the fibers into a whole to fix their position. Polyurethane resin has good adhesion and easy to foam. This feature makes the composite railway sleepers easier to shape and has stable performance.
Thermal properties
Polyurethane resin material has low thermal conductivity, low linear expansion coefficient and much smaller thermal stress than metal when there is temperature difference. It is an excellent insulation material for railway sleepers.
Material costs
The polyurethane resin raw material is easy to get, the price is lower, the production technology is simple and mature, the molding process is easy. Therefore, choosing it as the matrix material will greatly reduce the material cost of plastic railway sleepers.
