Development of railroad track bed-ties form recycled tires

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The conventional railroad ties always have lifetime problems and there are few options available for reusing or recycling. Alternative products with longer lifetime and better properties are therefore becoming increasingly important by railroad operators. On the other hand, the increasing amount of discarded tires, which needs special storage or landfill, also poses environmental issues. The rubber based railroad ties from the discard tiers are anticipated to have better application properties and longer lifetime than the conventional wooden railroad ties. Such tire-enabled railroad ties would have a great potential to meet the requirement of alternative railroad ties and provide value-added utilization of scrap tires. In this proposed project, the recycled rubber fragments will be employed for the major content of railroad ties along with suitable additives and compatibiliser agents. Planned optimization studies will enable to improve the mechanical and other required characteristics. The samples made by using materials described herein will be characterized for its own hardness, strength, durability, nail-gripping and other properties required by using as railroad ties. After initial compounding/formulation carried out at CBBP, U of Toronto, the prototype railroad ties will be developed through high pressure molding machine available at industry partner, Windsor Rubber.