Rail Vehicle Manufacturers Operate in a Challenging Environment
Manufacturers of trains, locomotives, and other rail equipment face daily challenges to reduce costs, improve efficiency and increase innovation, to name a few. Passenger safety, comfort, durability, and production efficiency are critical for success. Adhesives and sealants enable the use of different materials and efficient assembly. They are used in all kinds of railway vehicles, from high-speed trains to tram rail cars.
Sikaflex® is the leading adhesive and sealant brand in the global rail market. Sika’s global and local experts provide rail vehicle and component manufacturers with service from design, project testing support to serial production. Sika products for the railway industry come along with DIN 6701-3 material cards for FEM calculation and EN45545 fire certification.
Rely on Sika for outstanding performance of your rail vehicles.
Sika's strong presence in the rail industry is the result of our firm commitment. For more than 35 years, Sika's technical and sales experts have proven that our service and solutions enabled suppliers and producers of trains to make their products better, lighter, safer and produce them more efficiently.
For rail vehicle construction, stringent quality standards are to be applied, such as the EN 15085 series for welding processes, the DIN 6701 series for bonding processes and the EN 45545 series which copes with fire safety issues. Sika has put in place a comprehensive set of data according to DIN 6701-3 requirements, to help it’s customers verify new designs and applications. The DIN 6701-3 material card is continuously monitored to ensure accuracy and quality.
Rely on Sika’s Service for your Rail Projects
Sika's Service to the rail manufacturing industry goes far beyond standard. Rely on Sika for following services:
- DIN 6701-3 Material Cards for FEM Calculation and Design Verfication
- Adhesion validation and testing on your substrates
- Support to select the optimal dispensing and process tools
- Applicator staff training
- Intelligent track and trace feature for products
- Improved in-process control with detectable surface preparation
Smart Track and Trace Feature
Sika also provides its products with a data matrix code that facilitates scanning of the product label for entry of all relevant batch data in the digital process control sheets.
UV Detectable Surface Preparation
Sika LUM Surface Preps incorporate luminescent dyes for easy detection with UV light. Treated surfaces will temporarily luminesce when exposed to UV light. Thus these solutions provide a visible detection method for verifying primer application and aligning the process control and safety requirements under DIN 6301 and DIN 2304.
We Help you to Improve your Vehicles and Assembly Processes
Sika is Your Partner from Design to Production of Railways
Large Component Assembly
When joining large-sized components for rail vehicles, adhesive application and assembly processes require a longer working time. In contrast, curing speed is essential to move the assembly to the next steps. Selected one-component Sikaflex® assembly adhesives can be used in combination with Sika® Booster to combine extended workability with fast curing.
Composite Part Assembly
Many thermoset composite parts like train masks, toilet modules, or other interior trims consist of different components bonded together. Often this is required to reinforce vehicle parts. Sika's structural polyurethane and epoxy adhesives integrate well with your process requirements. From automation to high cure speed while maintaining enough handling time, SikaForce® and SikaPower® structural adhesives help you increase your production output.
Rail Door Bonding
Rail operators demand high-quality door leaves for their fleets as they run under constant mechanical and environmental stresses throughout their service life. SikaPower® structural adhesives fulfill all requirements and withstand harsh climatic conditions and resist all service impacts, thanks to Sika's SmartCore epoxy toughener providing ultimate fatigue performance. SikaPower® structural adhesives provide the door leaves manufacturers a bonding system that improves the performance in the cold- and high-temperature environment. It's simple; with Sika, you can comply with even more challenging specifications put in place for your door leaves by rail OEMs and operators.
Glass Assembly
Sika offers a wide range of adhesive solutions for the assembly of rail glass and cassette windows. The manual installation requires adequate installation time but decent curing speed. The Sikaflex® glass bonding solutions are suitable for OEM installation as well as for maintenance and repair shops. Easy handling and fast curing are a must. Our Sikaflex® Booster and PowerCure Technology covers all aspects of a smooth and quick application:
Interior and Exterior Sealing
Numerous areas inside and outside of a rail vehicle require protection from standing water, water, or dust ingress. Sikaflex® sealing solutions meet the high demands in terms of weathering and rail cleaner resistance. Meanwhile, Sikaflex® sealants meet the required fire standards up to the highest level.
Fire Protection Coatings
Sikagard® fire-resistant products stop the spread of fire and increase the evacuation time for passengers. They are also used in batteries of e-vehicles to increase passenger protection in the event of a failure in battery cells, arrays, and even the complete module itself. Further, Sikagard® intumescent coating products are proven throughout other industry applications when activated by heat serving to contain and delay fire spread by increasing in volume and decreasing in density, thus contributing to longer occupant exit time in the event of danger.
Li-Ion Batteries for Battery Powered Trains
Sika enables the accelerating trend of electric operating powertrains; our solutions include intumescent fire protective coatings Sikagard®, thermal conductive SikaForce® adhesives, SikaBiresin® thermal gap fillers, dielectric potting and encapsulation systems, plus Sikaflex® bonding and sealing solutions for battery enclosure assembly.
DIN 6701 Support
The implementation of DIN 6701 for the rail industry has enhanced the quality and reliability of adhesive bonding processes. Sika takes the lead to helps its customers comply with these standards and implement control and safety mechanisms to ensure superior adhesive bonding quality.
Sika offers material cards to calculate bonded joints on rail vehicles and parts of rail vehicles with the high safety requirements under class A1.
Sika material cards contain the following details:
- Chemical properties
- Thermomechanical behavior and glasss transition temperature
- Lap-shear and tensile strength / Elasticity / E-Modulus
- Compression strength
- Creep
- Relaxation shear failure strain
- Shear fatigue stress, including Wöhler curve
Fire Protection
Rail vehicle producers must use EN 455545-2 and NFPA 130 approved process materials. Thus, to avoid flame spread and ensure sufficient time for evacuation. All Sikaflex®, SikaForce®, and SikaPower® adhesives and sealants used in the rail industry meet the fire standards above. Unique solutions like Sikagard® intumescent coatings support vehicle integrity and fire resistance.