Fundamental study on a new inspection method based on vibration characteristics for rubber materials of the rolling stock

Abstract

In a rolling stock, acceleration force is transmitting to a car body from bogie by a single towing link which consists of rubber material for shock absorbing. Visual inspection and load test are carried out for the single towing link at regular maintenances. Recently, an alternative method is needed for the purpose of labor saving, because the maintenance requires heavy weight lifting and a lot of time. In this paper, impact tests were conducted for three types of towing link which had different backgrounds respectively. Then, we confirmed that an impact test was useful way to inspect the rubber conditions like the degradation changes or the presence of damage.