High-performance, Biodegradable Lubrication of German / European Railway Systems - Today

1. High-performance, Biodegradable Lubrication of German / European Railway Systems - Today 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

3. Lubricant consumption World‘s lubricant consumption: 37.000.000 tons Consumption in Germany: 1.200.000 tons Total loss lubricants: 40.000 tons Railway Systems: 5.000 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 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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. 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

5. Problem: Wheel/Rail contact Influence of Lubrication on Wheel flange wear Wear area Loss of Material when reprofiling Lubricated Not Lubricated 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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. 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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. 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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) 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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 01.01.2020 / 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 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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. 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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 01.01.2020 / 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 01.01.2020 / 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 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

16. Application Wheel flange lubrication, example: Type Vogel SP 9 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

17. Application Wheel flange lubrication, example: Type DeLimon RE 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

18. Application Wheel flange lubrication, example: Type BEKA Fluilub 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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 01.01.2020 / 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 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

22. Results: Field test Biodegradable, High-Performance Lubricant Conventional Lubricant Used E-Lok: BR 111,DTotal test distance: 1,9 Mill. km remark: sh and a are not influenced by the lubricant Wear in mm / 100.000 km 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

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 Others Cracks 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

24. Results: Field test Conventional Biodegradable 01.01.2020 / 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 01.01.2020 / 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) • ... 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

27. Thank you very much for your kind attention. www.fuchs-lubritech.de 01.01.2020 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems