Prototyping rail track for micro-people movers using additive manufacturing: Failure topology characterization

This paper describes the design and prototyping of railroad tracks for micro-people movers (MPM) using 3D printing technology. Electric MPMs have found applications for short distance travel needs. PLA (polylactide) is the choice of material for the prototyping in this paper. One of the advantages of using 3D printed railroad tracks is being able to properly address the rendering of a variety of topographic profiles of naturally occurring landscapes. The 3D printing of railroad track projects starts with digitally modelling the structure to integrate the automated manufacturing process. To determine the bearing capacity of the printed tracks, both compression and flexural load tests were conducted. The results, as anticipated, indicate that the load capacity and failure modes depend on the fiber content and layer directions of the 3D printed tracks. As the fiber content percentages increase from 20% to 100%, the failure modes transition from material-based control feature to a more structure-based control type. Because material contents are closely associated with the weight of the rail and the cost of production, design optimization can be made based on the correlation between load capacity and the failure mode.