Evaluation of the physical and mechanic properties of a composite railway turnout sleeper

The Centre of Excellence in Engineered Fibre Composites at the University of Southern Queensland and CarbonLOC Pty Ltd, Australia have developed and investigated the behaviour of a new fibre composite railway sleeper technology, which can be used to replace deteriorating timber turnout sleepers. The building block of this sleeper is the new generation composite sandwich structure made up of glass fibre composite skins and modified phenolic core material. This paper presents the results of the experimental testing and evaluation on the physical and mechanical properties of fibre composite railway sleeper and its component materials in order to evaluate the performance and quality of the technology. Based on the results, the bending strength, modulus, shear, and compressive strength of the sleeper are 79 MPa, 7.2 GPa, 16 MPa, and 77 MPa, respectively while the pulling strength of screw spike is 74 kN. These properties are suitable for a railway turnout sleeper application