RESIN TRANSFER MOULDING FOR RAILWAY INDUSTRY - DEVELOPMENT AND PROCESSING OF A COMPOSITE FRONT END BUMPER

Lightweight body constructions and passenger protection is getting more and more important for railway applications. A maximum of strength and stiffness, a high energy absorption of the structure and good fire retardant properties are important for a successful substitution of classical materials, e.g. metals, by using Fibre Reinforced Plastics (FRP). The company Hubner, Germany, is a manufacturer of complete front end bumper systems for tram applications in the rail industry. The main goal of this project is to develop a FRP front end bumper beam and to replace the existing aluminium version. Based on a catalogue of requirements a new design of the composite part is developed under material and processing (RTM)conditions. Using a FEA simulation program, the optimisation of the composite bumper is done to realise a weight reduction and minimise the manufacturing costs. Additionally, the RTM-mould concept is developed and the milling of the master pattern of the composite front end bumper is performed. Furthermore, the selected glass fibre fabrics and fire retardant MODAR resin (Ashland Company, GB) are investigated to determine the laminate quality and mechanical properties of the manufactured composite part.