Human-Made Super-Materials Applicable to Railroading

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

In the pursuit of stronger, cleaner, and altogether better materials, scientists are turning to Mother Nature for inspiration. Biomimicry (literally “imitating life”) is a field of science that studies naturally occurring processes and designs and looks for ways to mimic them. In this slide show, see some of the amazing structures and properties that animals and plants have evolved, and learn about new human-made super-materials they are giving rise to.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/nature-materials.html

Research into designer materials is making great strides. From medicine to military, the practical applications are limitless. What applications would go on railroading’s materials research wish list?

Steel that heals its own cracks. Wheels that never go out of round. Ballast that kills weeds. What else?

Imagine steel rails that grow like kudzu.

Watch out. You might get what you ask for.

2

Interesting, I just posted a tongue-in-cheek response to the “Rethinking Steel Rails” thread http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/210411.aspx referencing sci-fi like nanotechnology derived materials and here is the real world equivalent…

3

Hmmm…Attack Kudzu (?) as an anti-trespasser device…

4

Caustic-reactive anti-graffiti paint?

5

Self-sanding rails on grades?

Leaf and moisture repellent rails?

Crossing arm gates that regrow if knocked off?

6

Huge magnets suspended over grade crossings to lift errant vehicles out of the way of an approaching train!

7

How about a Super Adhesive to Stop idiots from running around Grade Crossing gates. Another one I would Love to see would be any type of Anti Graffti Paint that would stop Graffti from Sticking to it.

8

Not only keep the paint from sticking, but repel the paint with such force that it coats the artist instead.

9

What happens if the “artist” is between two cars with said coating? Does the paint keep bouncing back and forth? Until a crew member happens to walk through?

The law of unintended consequences…

10

Hopefully, by the time a crew member walks through, the artist will have been coated, both front and back, by all the airborne paint.

11

And the paint will have immoblized the “artist,” just as I immobilized wasps with paint when I found a wasp nest when painting eaves.

12

Rail material that resists the extremes of expansion and contraction due to ambient temperature.

13

I don’t think this would be neccesary, as the roadbed itself would grow up to provide its own grade separation at crossings.