1. High-performance, Biodegradable Lubrication of German / European Railway Systems - Today
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2. High-performance, Biodegradable Lubrication of German / European Railway Systems - Today
1 Introduction
2 Problems
- Wheel/Rail contact
- Tribo-System Switch/Point
3 Requirements
4 Solutions
- Lubricant formulation
5 Application
- Switch lubrication
- Wheel flange lubrication
6 Test Methods
7 Results
8 Future Aspects
9 Summary
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3. Lubricant consumption
World‘s lubricant consumption: tons
Consumption in Germany: tons
Total loss lubricants: tons
Railway Systems: tons
Total loss lubricants:
Concrete release agents
Two-stroke engine oils
Chain saw oils
Chain- and Wire rope lubricants
...
Switch lubricants
Wheel flange lubricants
Rail lubricants
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4. Problem: Wheel/Rail contact
Wheel/Rail contact is essential, because
traction forces
braking forces
electric signals
are transferred in this contact.
No lubrication in the Traction Area A
Lateral forces caused by
centrifugal effects in curves
dynamic interaction between vehicle and track
Vibrations/Shock loads due to gauge variations
lead to further contact zones B.
Zone B needs effective lubrication to reduce friction and wear.
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5. Problem: Wheel/Rail contact
Influence of Lubrication on Wheel flange wear
Wear area
Loss of Material when reprofiling
Lubricated
Not Lubricated
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6. Problem: Switches
Switches belong to the most important elements of the rail track, because failures influence directly the network operation, safety and availability of the network.
Switches of the common slide chair design are extremely demanding in the tribological point of view, because the lubricant has to fulfil strong and partly opposite requirements.
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7. Requirements Generally: Environmentally harmless Low water pollution
High biodegradability
No toxic components
Should be solvent-free
etc.
These requirements are not homogeneously regulated. Regarding biodegradability, the test method according to CEC L-33-A-93 standard is commonly used. Additionally different OECD-guidelines are used.
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8. Requirements Wheel flange lubrication: primary:
Reduction of friction between wheel and rail flange to reduce the risk of derailment and to minimise rolling noises generated in these contact zones.
Reduction of wear of wheel and rail to minimise maintenance work and life cycle costs and to increase the availability of the rolling stock.
secondary:
High adhesion (gets more and more important for high speed trains)
Lubricity and sprayability should be independent from temperature
Independence from the lubricating system used
Good resistance against ageing
Long storage time
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9. Requirements Switch lubrication: primary:
Reduction of friction to achieve low adjusting forces and safe operation
Excellent corrosion protection, which is also effective under extreme weather conditions and in very thin lubricant layers
secondary:
Good applicability
High creeping power for lubrication of inaccessible areas
Lubricity should be independent from temperature
Excellent EP- and damping properties (Shock loads during overrunning)
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10. Solution Basics of lubricant formulation:
In these applications normally soft free-flowing greases are used, which can contain special solid lubricants.
It is important, that all single components are checked regarding their environmental potential, even though the base oil is by far the biggest portion of the lubricant.
Base oils:
Regarding biodegradability we can choose
from the following fluids:
Native esters
Synthetic esters
Low-viscous Polyglycols
Low-viscous synthetic hydrocarbons
/ HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

11. Solution
Beside the biodegradability the following properties have to be considered with the base oils:
Lubricity
Flow behaviour at low temperatures
Thermal resistance
Solubility / Miscibility of additives
Compatibility with materials
Following the thickeners, which can be used in biodegradable lubricants:
Lithium soap
Calcium soap
Li-/Ca-Mix soap
Inorganic thickeners, e.g. Bentonite
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12. Solution Additives and Solid lubricants:
EP additives play an important role, because wheel flange lubrication, as well as switch lubrication is working under boundary or extreme mixed friction conditions.
Selection of additives must be done also with regard to the strong requirements of environmental aspects and must fulfil all the tribological demands as well.
Long-term experience in practical applications has shown, that special solid lubricants can be extremely helpful in these applications. Mostly special graphite types as well as combinations of the so-called white solid lubricants are used.
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13. Solution
Synergetic combination of the mentioned components to ready formulations:
*AC = Anti-corrosion, AW = Anti-wear, AO = Anti-oxydant, EP = Extreme Pressure
**FSS = solid lubricants
/ HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

14. Application Generally:
to make sure that you have the right quantity of lubricant right in time at the right place
Switch lubrication:
normally manually,
e.g. with brush
sometimes with portable
lubricators
/ HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

15. Application Wheel flange lubrication:
with automatic lubricators, which spray extremely small quantities of lubricant onto the wheel flanges
Regarding the controlling system, lubricators are divided into
path controlled
time controlled
curve controlled systems.
normally only the first wheel set is lubricated, all the following axles are lubricated indirectly
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16. Application Wheel flange lubrication, example: Type Vogel SP 9
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17. Application Wheel flange lubrication, example: Type DeLimon RE
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18. Application Wheel flange lubrication, example: Type BEKA Fluilub
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19. Application Wheel flange lubrication, calculation example:
Width of the spray jet on the wheel flange: 20 mm
Wheel diameter: 900 mm
Lubricant quantity per spray cycle: 30 mg
Thickness of lube film on the first wheel set: ca. 0,5 µm
Spray pattern from test rig trial
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20. Application Wheel flange lubrication, calculation example:
Lubricant quantity per cycle: 30 mg
Travelling distance per cycle: 500 m
Total distance: 1000 km
Lubricant consumption at each side: 60 g
Spray pattern from test rig trial
/ HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

21. Test methods Friction value Tannert Timken Almen-Wieland
Corrosion protection
Erichsen
Water resistance
Emcor
System test
DeLimon RE
DeLimon Railjet
Vogel SP 8
Vogel SP 9
Saxonia SSL-3
Rebs
Woerner
Beka Fluilub
SRS Clicomatic
Portec
Wear
FBT welding load
FBT wear
Timken
Environment
CEC L-33-A93
OECD 301 A-E
RAL-UZ 64
etc.
Adhesion power
Tannert
Timken-Retention
Fling-off test
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22. Results: Field test Wear in mm / 100.000 km
Biodegradable, High-Performance Lubricant Conventional Lubricant
Used E-Lok: BR 111,D Total test distance: 1,9 Mill. km
remark: sh and a are not influenced by the lubricant
Wear in mm / km
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23. Results: Field test
1991: Changing over from a conventional, mineral oil based grease to a high performance, biodegradable lubricant.
Causes for Wheel Flange Wear on Locomotive Wheels (source: Austrian Railway)
Flange wear
Flange/surface wear
Surface wear
Flat surfaces
Cracks
Others
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24. Results: Field test Conventional Biodegradable
/ HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

25. Future Aspects Searching for more suitable raw materials
New trends in environmental legislation
New materials for wheels and rails
New designs of carriages and bogies
Higher wheel loads
Higher velocities
Further optimisation of the status quo
/ HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

26. Summary
Biodegradable lubricants for wheel flange and switch lubrication
in German / European Railway Systems
have overrun their conventional ancestors and completely removed in many applications
perform much better and at the same time help our environment by:
Reduction of driving power (up to 15%)
Reduction of wear, noise and friction
Increase of the maintenance intervals
Reduction of maintenance works
Reduction of lubricant consumption
Reduction of the risk of derailment
Increase of Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Safety (RAMS)
Decrease of Life Cycle Costs (LCC)
...
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27. Thank you very much for your kind attention.
/ HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems