Experimental investigation of long-term effects on temperature reliability of exothermic coating for smart railway structures with self-heating surfaces

Gravel scattering, which occurs from snow-ice that develops on trains during winter, is a major cause of damage to train parts. An exothermic technology that uses copper wires to solve the problem of gravel scattering is ineffective on the snow-ice produced on the surface of the trains. Therefore, studies have been conducted to overcome the weaknesses of the conventional methods and to develop a paint-type surface exothermic technology that can be efficiently applied to complicated structures. However, multi-layered paint-type coatings can lead to problems such as a delamination or exfoliation of the layers when used for a long period of time within an environment undergoing variations in temperature. Therefore, this study assesses the long-term effects of temperature on multi-layered exothermic coating technology based on nano-solutions for an application of self-heating function on railway infrastructures. To do so, we developed an exothermic coating test specimen using the paint applied to train cars and commercial nano-solutions. To conduct an experiment on accelerated aging, the specimen was subjected to regular changes in the temperature within a thermal chamber. The results revealed that there is a nonlinear decline in the performance as the specimen is worn out in comparison to the exothermic performance achieved during the early stages. Further, it is possible to identify the structural causes of the decline in performance from the specimen applied thermal load by analyzing the morphology. However, it is possible to observe a high stability from noninvasive overheating or short-circuits based on the structural changes to the coating, which are observed during the assessment of the exothermic uniformity. Therefore, it can be concluded that a multi-layer exothermic coating, which can be effectively applied as an exothermic technology based on self-heating surfaces, can be applied for a long period to prevent disasters from freezing or snow-ice in trains during winter.