Latest Research and Development in Materials Technology

Since the materials for the railway system are required to maintain the designated performance over a predetermined period of time, it is necessary to deal well with the changes over time of the used materials. On the basis of this background, our current researches mainly consist of long-time service life materials such as concrete or steel structures, and friction members such as rail, wheel, bearing, brake shoe, contact wire, pantograph contact strip. We are also developing new materials or new technologies represented by superconducting power feeding cable. This paper shows the outline of our recent research and development activities in materials technology.