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Development, Testing, and Applications of Recycled Plastic Composite Cross Ties

Richard Lampo
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
P.O. Box 9005
Champaign, IL USA 61826-9005
(217) 373-6765
(217) 373-6732 (fax)
r-lampo@cecer.army.mil

Thomas Nosker
Rutgers University
Building 3529, Busch Campus
Piscataway, NJ USA 08855
(732) 445-3631
(732) 335-0777 (fax)
tjnosker@rci.rutgers.edu

Henry Sullivan
TieTek, Inc.
14315 West Hardy Road
Houston, TX USA 77060
(281) 847-0029
(281) 847-1791 (fax)
hsullivan@natk.com
INTRODUCTION

Background

Wood has been the traditional material used for railroad (RR) cross ties (or sleepers, as they are
called in some countries) during the 153 years of railroading in the United States. Trains now
carry up to 39 tons (35,400 kg) per axle versus 36 tons (32,650 kg) just a few years ago. In many
cases this increased loading has accelerated the wear of wood ties. The resulting decrease in the
service life of wood ties as well as growing environmental concerns about the use of creosote as
a wood preservative have prompted industry interest in alternative RR cross tie materials.

Origins of Plastic Composite RR Ties

In the early 1990s several manufacturers in the United States had the idea to produce RR ties
made from recycled waste plastics. However, it was quickly learned that it takes more than just
a cross tie-sized block of plastic to provide proper track performance. Plastic lumber RR ties
made from recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE) by an Illinois plastic lumber firm were
installed on a Chicago-area short line during this period, but the installation was not completely
successful due to some mechanical property limitations of the unreinforced HDPE. By the mid-
1990s, at least two independent groups were developing engineered plastic composite RR ties
using recycled HDPE that incorporated reinforcement elements into the recycled-plastic matrix
for property enhancements (1). Despite its mechanical property limitations, HDPE offers both
performance and environmental advantages for use as RR cross ties. Insects and other organisms
can attack wood ties and shorten their service life, particularly in warm, moist soils. To fight in-
sect attack and rot, wood ties must be chemically treated, usually with creosote. HDPE does not
require such treatment because it is inherently resistant to insects and rot. Given that some 15
million cross ties are replaced each year by U.S. railroads, and considering the volume of plastic
used to make each tie, considerable amounts of waste plastics could be diverted from landfills
and put to beneficial use if plastic ties were to achieve any significant market penetration.

Minimum Performance Requirements

In 1994, a group that included personnel from Rutgers University, Norfolk Southern Railroad,
the former Conrail Railroad, the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, and
a major plastic lumber manufacturer established preliminary performance target goals to serve as
a guide for developing plastic RR ties suitable for Class 1 rail service. These performance tar-
gets were based on the mechanical and physical property requirements for a cross tie functioning
properly in service, not just the properties needed to replicate a wooden tie. In 2000, a Subcom-
mittee on Engineered Composite Ties was established under the American Railway Engineering
and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) Committee 30 on Cross Ties to develop rec-
ommended engineering standards and practice for the use of these new cross tie materials. These
standards, using the performance target goals developed in 1994 as a starting point, were pub-
lished earlier this year in the 2003 Edition of the AREMA Manual for Railway Engineering (2)
and represent a minimum performance specification for the use of plastic composite ties in Class
1 rail service. Table 1 lists some of the recommended minimum performance requirements from
the AREMA Manual.

2
Table 1 Some Physical and Mechanical Properties for Plastic Composite RR Cross Ties

Modulus of Modulus of Rail Seat Single Tie Spike/Screw Max. Coeffi-

Elasticity – Rupture – Compression, Lateral Push, Pullout, lbf cient of
MOE, psi MOR, psi psi (MPa) lbf (kN) (kN) Thermal Ex-
(MPa) (MPa) pansion,
in/in/oF
(cm/cm/oC)
170,000 2,000 900 2,000 – 4,000 1,900/5,000 7.5X10-5
(1,170) (13.8) (6.2) (8.9 – 17.8) (8.5/22.2) (1.35X10-4)

Types of Plastic Composite Ties

In a little more than a decade since the first plastic ties were installed in the Chicago-area short
line railroad, several manufacturers have entered the market with a variety of plastic composite
tie designs. Generically these new plastic composite ties include such compositions as:

• Glass-fiber reinforced HDPE matrix

• Glass-fiber reinforced rubber-modified HDPE matrix
• Immiscible Polymer Blend (IMPB) Polystyrene (PS)-HDPE matrix
• HDPE and mineral by-product combination
• Hybrid steel, concrete, and plastic composite design

Variations on the above — or even other entirely different compositions or design types — may
be possible in the future as new manufacturers start competing for a share of the tie replacement
market.

TIE PERFORMANCE

Laboratory Testing

Bending

Flexural tests have been performed on full-sized plastic composite ties using a modified four-
point flexural test apparatus routinely used in the railroad industry (3). The support span is 60 in.
(152 cm) and the load span is 6 in. (15.2 cm). Some plastic composite ties tested in this manner
have shown ultimate strengths exceeding 4,000 psi (27.6 MPa) and elastic moduli (stiffness) as
high as 300,000 psi (2,070 MPa).

Fastener Holding Power

It was determined early through laboratory testing that screw spike holding power in plastic
composite ties was comparable to that in wooden cross ties. However, laboratory tests per-

3
formed with cut spikes revealed lower holding power than in a new wood tie – relative pull-out
forces of approximately 3,500 lbf (15.6 kN) versus 8,000 lbf (35.6 kN), respectively. With cut
spikes being the most commonly used fasteners by U.S. railroads, including the military, this
finding was important.

It was recognized, however, that these spike-holding results were on short-term tests using new
materials not subjected to weathering and service loads. It is known that cut spikes will loosen
considerably in wood over time (4). What is not currently known is how much spike-holding
ability is actually demonstrated and required for different commercial applications, and whether
(and how rapidly) cut spike holding ability in wood and plastic ties will converge with time. In
addition, the impact absorbing properties of some composite ties result in spike holding proper-
ties in actual field use that exceed that predicted by static laboratory data. Meanwhile, several
field installations using cut spikes in plastic ties have been initiated with satisfactory results as
discussed below.

Field Testing and Demonstrations

Facility for Accelerated Service Testing

In April 1996, two plastic cross ties were installed in a 5-degree curve in the Facility for Accel-
erated Service Testing (FAST) at the Association of American Railroads (AAR) Transportation
Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), Pueblo, CO. After 130 million gross tons (MGT) (118 billion
gross kg) of traffic at 40 mph (64 km/hr), one of the ties was removed for laboratory testing.
This removed tie was subjected to a rail seat abrasion test to determine the sensitivity of the tie
material to tie plate cutting. The testing machine broke down after 900,000 cycles with no evi-
dence of tie plate cutting up to that point. Based on satisfactory performance of the originally
installed ties, 24 additional plastic composite ties were installed in March 1997.

Also during this general time frame, another manufacturer’s composite tie formulation was
tested at TTCI, and it withstood 2,000,000 cycles with no plate cutting while exhibiting good
holding power using cut spikes. Ties manufactured by additional companies have since been
installed in the FAST. Those specimens that have been in place the longest have now accumu-
lated over 700 MGT (635 billion gross kg) of traffic with very good performance results to date.

One plastic tie performance consideration that warrants special mention is lateral track stability.
In lateral tie push-out tests performed by TTCI on some of the plastic composite ties, approxi-
mately 1,000 lbf (4.45 kN) was required to push out newly installed plastic ties. This value falls
within the range of values for a newly installed wood cross tie of equivalent size. After 15 – 20
MGT (13.6 – 18 billion gross kg) of traffic, the hard rock ballast will begin to “lock” into the
wood tie and the lateral push-out force will increase to around 2,500 – 3,000 lbf (11.1 – 13.3
kN). The push-out tests performed on the plastic ties after approximately 15 MGT (13.6 billion
gross kg) returned a push-out value similar to the as-installed value. This indicates that the plas-
tic composite tie is too hard and friction resistant (i.e., smooth) to achieve any appreciable me-
chanical locking with the ballast.

4
To increase the tie-to-ballast interaction, and consequently increase the lateral tie push-out resis-
tance, manufacturers have heat-embossed textured patterns into the sides and bottom of ties
(Figure 1). Norfolk Southern conducted field tests using some of these embossed ties during
November 1997. The ties were installed, tamped, and ballasted in the same manner as a conven-
tional wood tie. Up to 4,500 lbf (20 kN) force was needed to push out the ties with the embossed
pattern. Other tests of these embossed plastic composite ties by the Army, TTCI, and various
commercial railroads have demonstrated lateral stability values up to 50 percent greater than for
wood ties.

Photo courtesy of TTCI.

Figure 1. Plastic ties, awaiting application of additional ballast, showing surface pattern for
increased lateral stability.

A 100-tie section of plastic composite ties was installed in a 6-degree, 5-inch superelevation
curve on the High Tonnage Loop at the FAST. Although the plastic ties may exhibit a much
lower stiffness than a wood tie as measured in flexure in the laboratory, some researchers be-
lieved that, because of the effects of rate of loading on polymeric materials – that is, as the rate
of loading increases so does the apparent stiffness, the plastic ties would behave much stiffer in
track than laboratory results indicated. To test this idea, the total track modulus (stiffness) of this
100-tie section was measured and compared with an adjacent oak tie test section (5). The verti-
cal modulus was measured both statically and dynamically at two different temperatures (tie cen-
ter at 33 °F [0.6 °C] and 121 °F [49.4 °C]). No difference in stiffness was found between plastic
tie and wood tie track, and no significant change in stiffness was attributable to the change in
plastic or wood tie temperature. The vertical track modulus, in lbf/in/in (kN/cm/cm) was:

5
 • Plastic-tie track 3190 – 3430 (14.2 – 15.3)
• Wood-tie track 3160 – 3240 (14.1 – 14.4)

Field Installations

Plastic composite ties are accumulating traffic not only at the Pueblo test center, but also in reve-
nue and mass transit applications. The Union Pacific (UP) Railroad has the largest number of
plastic composite ties installed of any U.S. railroad, using mostly cut spikes. In one UP installa-
tion carrying 263,000 lb. (119,000 kg) coal cars, composite ties have accumulated 850 MGT
(770 billion gross kg) since July 1998 with no indication of plate cutting or spike back-out. To
date, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has installed the largest number of plastic composite
ties of any transit railroad. Over the years, the dripping of creosote from elevated track onto
people and property has been a problem for the CTA. The CTA looked to the plastic ties as a
way to eliminate creosote dripping as well as the problem of stray-current electrical corrosion of
track fasteners. After a successful trial of a small group of plastic ties at one of its elevated sta-
tions, the CTA decided to install plastic composite ties not only in their elevated (open) track but
in ballasted track as well. Performance has been successful enough that installation of tens of
thousands of additional plastic ties is currently in progress. Continued growth in the use of plas-
tic ties by all classes of railroads is expected in the foreseeable future.

First Plastic Tie Turnout

In December 1998, the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana, installed a set of
64 recycled-plastic composite ties in an AREMA #10 turnout (1). This installation was under-
taken to demonstrate that plastic ties could perform well in a turnout under heavy axle load in
light- to medium-density traffic service conditions. A variety of fasteners were used, including
Pandrol™ plates and screw spikes as well as a hybrid of 5/8 in. (1.6 cm) lag screws and cut
spikes in a standard cut spike tie plate.

Since being placed into service, no component failures or major problems have occurred. A sec-
ond plastic tie turnout was installed at the Crane Center in 2002. As a result of the successful
installations at the Crane Center, six switch sets using composite ties from three different manu-
facturers were recently installed on the Washington D.C. Metro commuter rail service.

SAFETY ISSUES

Background

As verified by their successful performance in track to date, plastic composite RR ties have been
shown to be a viable replacement for wood ties in many applications. Because the performance
history of these new materials is relatively short compared with wood ties, the potential failure
modes of these products in track service are not yet well defined. In the fall of 1998, the Army
began working with the Federal Railroad Administration to help address safety issues that may
arise with the use of plastic composite RR ties.

6
Expected Failure Modes

The failure modes most likely to occur with plastic-based railroad ties are as follows:

1. failure to meet recommended minimum performance requirements

2. fracture
3. tie plate cutting
4. fire
5. low tie/ballast interaction
6. creep (increase of gage due to axial tie loading)
7. stress-relaxation, resulting in spike loosening
8. deterioration of properties due to exposure to the elements.

These potential failure modes are ranked on the basis of criticality and operational safety, with
number 1 considered to be most critical and number 8 considered to be the least critical. Some
of the failure modes listed above could occur with little or no early warning, while others would
be more gradual in nature. A breakout of the failure modes into these two categories is shown
below.

Potential Catastrophic Failures

• failure to meet recommended minimum performance requirements

• fracture
• low tie-ballast interaction
• fire.

Gradual Failures

• tie plate cutting

• creep
• stress-relaxation
• deterioration of properties via environmental exposures.

Each of the above-listed failure modes is discussed in greater detail below in terms of safety, po-
tential performance issues, and future research requirements.

Minimum Performance Requirements

The AREMA Committee 30 recommended minimum performance requirements are based on

Class 1 freight applications, which are considered to be the most demanding. The inability of a
recycled-plastic composite tie to meet these minimum performance requirements is considered
the most likely reason for sudden failure of the track system resulting from tie fracture, fastener
failure, or excessive deflections that may lead to a derailment. Conversely, if the minimum per-
formance requirements are met, the probability of a catastrophic failure in service is considered
quite low.

7
Fracture

Some plastic composite ties have been observed to form small cracks or fracture during or after
fastener installation, particularly when using screw spikes. This effect has been most often ob-
served to be related to the fastener installation method (e.g., continuous ram-driven versus hand-
or impact-driven methods) and preparation of the tie (i.e., size and depth of a pre-drill).

Although the fracture failures described above occurred during initial tie installation, it is also
possible that plastic ties could fracture in the field under severe operational conditions, particu-
larly in the case of a center-bound tie and/or heavy dynamic loading such as from a flat wheel.
Derailment, with the combination of shear and stress concentrations of the wheel flanges acting
on the ties, is another possible cause for tie fracture. It should be noted that composite ties have
remained intact without breaking after derailments (not caused by the ties) both at TTCI and in
commercial service.

Low Tie/Ballast Interaction

Ties are expected to interact with ballast and provide resistance to lateral rail movement. While
a lack of sufficient tie/ballast interaction may not fit the exact definition of a tie failure, the prob-
lem can nevertheless lead to a system failure. As discussed previously, tie/ballast interaction can
be significantly increased by embossing textured patterns onto the bottom and side surfaces of
plastic composite ties. At the time of initial installation, single tie push-out values for smooth-
sided plastic ties were found to be as low as 700 lbf (3.1 kN), but the push-out values for em-
bossed-surface ties ran as high as 6,000 lbf (26.7 kN). In fact, the ability to improve tie/ballast
interaction through surface modification of plastic ties may now represent a significant and valu-
able performance advantage over wood because it can eliminate the break-in period during
which trains typically need to reduce speed before wood ties achieve acceptable lateral stability.
Union Pacific, for example, is installing tens of thousands of patterned composite ties in heavy
haul service.

Fire

Some plastic composite ties are combustible, as are wood ties, but others do not support combus-
tion as well. The burn energy associated with HDPE is approximately 19,500 BTU/lb (45,600
kJ/kg). Composite materials made with HDPE are somewhat less dense in burn energy than the
pure material. Whether plastic composite ties catch fire more easily than creosote-treated wood
ties may depend on the specific material formulation, but this issue has not yet been formally
studied. However, it is known is that the ignition temperature of wood ranges from 536 to 932
°F (280 to 500 °C) (6). Creosote-treated ties are likely to ignite more readily than untreated
wood ties. Even in their most susceptible powder form, HDPE, polypropylene, rubber, and poly-
styrene materials have ignition temperatures of 770, 788, 608, and 932 °F (410, 420, 320, and
500 °C), respectively (7). Experiments conducted by Underwriters Laboratories in support of
standards development for plastic lumber indicate that plastic lumber decking made from HDPE
does not represent a greater fire hazard than wooden decks. It should be noted, however, that
any track fire in a confined space — whether involving creosote-treated ties or plastic ties, with
or without a rubber component — would likely create a highly noxious or toxic environment.

8
Tie Plate Cutting

Over long periods of time, tie plates can be observed to cut into wooden ties. Tie plate cutting
may also occur with some of the plastic composite ties, but the toughness of HDPE is considered
to be an advantage in minimizing the occurrence of this phenomenon in plastic ties. Field and
laboratory observations so far indicate minimal rail seat abrasion with plastic composite ties,
with some composite ties showing no plate cutting after 800 MGT (725 billion gross kg).

Creep (Increase of Gage Due to Axial Tie Loading)

It is well established that polymers are viscoelastic in terms of their mechanical properties. That
is to say, there is an immediate response by the material when stress is applied to it, followed by
a time-dependent or viscous response.

The long-term creep performance of any plastic composite railroad tie will obviously play a ma-
jor role in whether the rails will stay in gage over the long term. Creep in this case would consist
of deformation due to stresses acting to separate the rails, acting in some fashion over a long time
and/or over a large number of loading cycles.

A lateral load of up to 24,000 lbf (106.8 kN) (with train speed, track geometry, and truck per-
formance all playing a part in the actual service loads) will occur during the period of time that a
train is moving over the ties. This loading, coupled with the viscoelastic nature of plastics and
composites, may lead to an eventual stretching of the ties between the rails, increasing the gage.
Creep is not expected to be a problem in vertical loading situations due to the low stresses im-
parted by these loads (thanks to the tie plates). All of the plastic composite ties tested to date
have equal or higher compressive strengths and modulus values than oak in the vertical load ori-
entation, but the same is not true of the lateral load modulus orientation. Measurements of rail
gage in both test and revenue service track so far indicate maintenance of gage for plastic com-
posite ties, but the highest traffic gross tonnage thus far is under 1,000 MGT (900 billion gross
kg).

Stress-Relaxation Resulting in Spike Loosening

In plastics, when a fixed strain is imparted on the material, the stress decreases with time. This is
called stress-relaxation. When a spike is inserted into a tie, the tie material is displaced a fixed
amount from its original location under (mostly) compressive stress. The compressive stress act-
ing on the spike-tie interface, together with the coefficient of friction between these two materi-
als, acts to prevent removal of the spike. Over time, however, stress-relaxation will occur, allow-
ing easier removal of all types of spikes over time from an affected plastic composite tie. Stress-
relaxation is undesirable because (1) track structure geometry can apply stresses that act to re-
move the spikes and (2) spike hole elongation can lead to gage widening and/or increase the pos-
sibility of rail rollover. Again, these stress-relaxation phenomena have not been observed in
plastic ties thus far.

9
Deterioration of Properties Due to Exposure to the Elements

The properties of most plastic composite ties should not deteriorate rapidly in the field. The base
material used in these products, HDPE, is moisture-proof but does degrade slowly under expo-
sure to ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun at rates up to 0.003 in. (0.0076 cm) per year. Two of
the tested composite tie formulations contain at least 60% HDPE by weight, and both have been
shown to not lose any mechanical properties when exposed to cyclic moisture, temperature, and
UV radiation at levels equivalent to 15 years of exposure for wooden ties.

PERFORMANCE ISSUES

Minimum Performance Requirements

Mechanical property screening can determine if the short-term performance requirements can be
met. The experiments must include full-size flexure experiments to determine product stiffness
and strength, thermal expansion measurements, and fastener pullout experiments to compare
with wood. Unfortunately, critical fastener pullout performance numbers are not currently avail-
able or easy to derive. Therefore, a comparison of initial performance with wood for fastener
pullout is the best that can be done with the available data. However, because fastener perform-
ance with plastic composite ties may be a long-term safety issue, this subject requires specific
investigation and testing.

Fracture

Tie fracture during installation cannot be simply modeled by any single material property. As
noted above in the discussion of creep and stress relaxation, plastics have rate-dependent proper-
ties. For example, some ties have had cut spikes driven in easily with no pilot hole using a ram
over a period of about one minute, but these same ties may crack when a cut spike is driven in
with no pilot hole using an impact spike driver. However, a properly sized pilot hole will allow
the spike to be hammer-driven. Since the compressive stress generated by the driven spike re-
laxes in plastic with time, fracture after installation is not likely unless the tie is subjected to an-
other rapid stress. This inference is consistent with observations to date. However, if large pilot
holes must be utilized in order to minimize the probability of tie cracking during spike driving,
the pullout force required to remove the spike may consequently be lower. The size of predrilled
holes for screw spikes is critical and must be optimized for each type of tie and fastener. Frac-
ture due to dynamic impact loadings, such as those that may result from a flat spot on a wheel,
also requires further investigation.

Low Tie/Ballast Interaction

This property can be easily and quickly measured with the single tie lateral push-out test. This
property should be measured whenever plastic composite ties are placed in field trials. Testing is
required to understand this issue under different composite, ballast, track, and loading conditions.

10
Fire

Open flames are sometimes used to clear vegetation overgrowth from the tracks, and compara-
tive experiments with creosote-treated ties should be conducted to properly assess the associated
risks. Thermite welding and rail heaters used during track installation and maintenance activi-
ties, as well as the use of switch heaters, are other heat sources near ties that require considera-
tion. Different plastic ties should be tested to determine ignition and flammability when exposed
to a passing open flame.

Tie Plate Cutting

A standard experiment has been devised to determine the susceptibility of wooden ties to tie
plate cutting. This experiment can also be used to determine the susceptibility of a variety of
plastic composite ties to tie plate cutting. One problem using this test with plastic ties, however,
is that plastic material under the plate can melt or soften during repetitive loading cycles at high
frequencies. This material response is due to the thermoplastic and highly insulative properties
of the composite materials used in these ties. Friction produced during cyclic loading creates
heat, but because the plastic cannot rapidly dissipate the heat, the material softens. Therefore,
the loading frequency for this test should be representative of actual track loading conditions and
not highly accelerated to shorten test time.

Creep and Stress-Relaxation

The time-dependent mechanical properties of plastics and composites will have an effect on:

• whether track gage will change with time, especially at track curves (from creep)
• when spikes will become easy to pull out (from stress relaxation).

Methods for predicting long-term performance (e.g., creep, stress-relaxation, etc.) of virgin plas-
tic materials quickly in a laboratory using easily produced stress/strain data have been developed
over the past 15 years. Most of this effort has been applied to high-grade engineering resins,
however, and the results are not directly applicable to composite members made with recycled
commodity-grade plastics. Therefore, specialized techniques must be developed for predicting
the long-term performance of composite plastic ties based on short-term measurements. Such
methods would allow the timely use of much smaller safety factors in construction design than
would otherwise be possible, thus promoting the efficient use of these materials with a high de-
gree of confidence. Improving design efficiency without sacrificing safety will improve the cost
competitiveness of these materials and the railroads that use them.

Common stress/strain experiments conducted at different strain rates readily reveal the viscoelas-
tic properties of plastics. Plastic materials typically have a different stiffness value for each
strain rate, with higher modulus values observed when plastics are strained more rapidly. Also,
higher stresses for a given strain (or higher strength) occur when plastics are strained more rap-
idly.

11
Another common mechanical property experiment is applied to determine creep. In this experi-
ment, a constant stress is applied to a sample of material and the strain is measured as a function
of time. There is an immediate strain induced on the plastic sample at time, t = 0, and then a de-
layed response that occurs with the passage of time. Higher levels of stress lead to more rapid
rates of creep.

Another common stress/strain experiment is used to determine a material's stress-relaxation

properties. In this experiment, a fixed strain is applied to a sample of material, and the stress is
measured as a function of time. As in the creep test, there is an immediate response in the plastic
material that generates an initial stress, which is followed by a time-dependent relaxation of the
material that produces lower states of stress over time. Higher initial strain levels on a given
plastic lead to higher initial stress levels, and a similar family of curves can be generated for any
plastic material.

A number of problems, however, make the direct application of these types of data useless with-
out additional information and a significant analytical effort. The most obvious applicability
problems relative to plastic ties are as follows:

• The tie materials of interest are not a pure plastic, but a polymer-based composite.
• The loading of a tie in service is not constant, but follows a cyclic pattern of loading and
unloading with each passing train (actually with each passing wheel).
• Stress levels in loaded ties can differ according to many variables.
• Reliable predictive methods must be developed because 20-year controlled laboratory
experiments are not feasible for determining a material’s long-term performance.

A systematic approach for dealing with these problems could include the following:

• Perform stress-strain tests at different strain rates to make sure the material behaves con-
sistently or predictably and can generate any family of desired curves.
• Find and validate a method for using this family of curves as a basis for predicting creep
and stress-relaxation.
• Develop a rule to account for the relaxation of the tie that occurs between loadings.
• Develop a method to predict when a tie will go out of gage based on any given loading
specifications.

Researchers at Rutgers University are working on models to develop some of these predictive
methods.

Additionally, issues of spike hole plugging and the potential applicability to plastic ties must be
studied. Different materials and techniques for plugging would also need to be investigated.

Deterioration of Properties Due to Exposure to the Elements

An experiment has been developed by Dr. Poo Chow of the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign to accelerate the effects of aging on wooden ties under controlled laboratory condi-
tions (8). This form of testing involves exposing railroad tie materials to moisture and tempera-

12
ture cycles, then performing destructive mechanical property testing. A correlation has been es-
tablished with wood ties of known species that were in the field for known lengths of time. This
type of test methodology also could be used on plastic composite ties for accelerated testing in a
qualitative way, but the correlation between the laboratory and field specimens is not likely to be
the same for wood ties as for plastic ties. Different composite tie types have been tested using
this method, with varying deterioration of properties indicated. This type of testing can provide
important performance information on plastic composite ties, and it would be beneficial to be
able to apply this test protocol to other types of plastic tie materials as well. However, there is a
need to develop a similar test method that is specifically designed for plastic composite cross ties
and recognizes the differences between plastic composites and wood.

CONCLUSIONS

The technology of plastic composite RR ties has advanced significantly over the past decade.
Successful performance of plastic ties in actual rail service demonstrates that the technology
works in various applications. Clearly, much is yet to be learned about the long-term perform-
ance and best use of these products. The most important performance issues affecting safety
have been identified. Further studies are needed to help fill gaps in knowledge and expand the
performance history database for these products. Working toward that end will help to assure the
safe, beneficial (to the railroads and the environment) application of these technologies and con-
tinued growth in their use.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Acknowledgment is given to Mr. Mahmood Fateh, in the Office of Research at the Federal Rail-
road Administration, for his support enabling the further study of the safety issues relative to this
new technology, as well as the many railroad industry, test laboratory, and manufacturing par-
ticipants who are working to improve our knowledge of this emerging technology.

REFERENCES

1. Lampo, R., T. Pinnick, and T. Nosker, “Development, Testing, and Demonstration of Recy-
cled-Plastic Composite RR Cross Ties,” proceedings of DoD-sponsored Transportation 2000
Conference, San Antonio, Texas, February – March 2000.

2. Chapter 30, Section 5, “Engineered Composite Ties,” Manual for Railway Engineering, 2003
Edition, American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association, Maryland, April
2003.

3. Gillespie, B., M. Lutz, T. Nosker, and D. Plotkin, “Development of a Recycled Plas-

tic/Composite Cross Tie,” American Railway Engineering Bulletin, No. 760, May 1997, Volume
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 4. Zarembski, A., “Aging of Wood Ties and Associated Loss of Strength,” Railway Track &
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5. “Vertical Track Modulus in Plastic Composite Tie Test Zones at FAST,” DOT/FRA/ORD-
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6. Williams, R., "Finishing of Wood," Wood Handbook - Wood as an Engineering Material,

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8. Davis, D., P. Chow, and R. Meimban, “Performance Prediction and Specification of Wood
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April 1996.

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