RTRI REPORT Oct. 2003
REVIEW

A Recent Trend of Research and Development on Materials for Railway

Taro TSUJIMURA


  Although the boom for new materials in the 1980s had gone, commercialization of new materials has steadily been promoted in the mean time. In recent years, intelligent-materials, eco-materials and nano-materials are in the limelight. Environmental consciousness has become increasingly important for railway materials in addition to the improvement of performance and economical merits. This paper reviews the history of material progress and introduces the recent trend of research and development on the materials used for railways.


* Full papers of RTRI Report are written in Japanese.

Copyright (c) 2003 Railway Technical Research Institute