Research & Development Projects

Overview

Railroad ties are the foundation of track stability, bearing dynamic loads, resisting wear at the rail seat, and maintaining geometry under environmental stress. Traditional materials—wood, concrete, steel—each bring limitations: wood degrades, conventional concrete cracks, and specialty materials often lack the economic or performance consistency needed for widespread adoption.

UHPNC represents a potential long-life alternative. Its high compressive and flexural performance, low permeability, and resistance to moisture, salts, and freeze-thaw cycling make it worth evaluating for rail infrastructure. Esurfact RRT is not a commercial product—it is a structured research initiative designed to generate defensible performance data through testing and system-level evaluation.

Why UHPNC for Railroad Ties?

UHPNC exhibits characteristics that align with the demands placed on railroad ties. High compressive strength supports concentrated rail seat loading. Flexural performance allows the tie to resist bending under dynamic train loads. Low permeability reduces moisture infiltration, protecting against internal degradation and freeze-thaw damage. Durability against salts and environmental exposure extends service life in harsh climates. Wear resistance at the rail seat helps maintain long-term track geometry.

These properties suggest potential, but performance must still be proven. Our research approach is designed to validate behavior under real-world loading conditions and environmental exposure.

Research & Evaluation Approach

Design & Modeling: We begin with structural modeling to predict tie behavior under load. Designs are refined through iterative analysis, ensuring dimensional and geometric alignment with standard track systems.

Precision Fabrication: Test specimens are fabricated under controlled conditions to ensure dimensional accuracy and material consistency. Fabrication parameters are documented to support repeatability in future work.

Testing & Performance Characterization: Physical testing evaluates compressive strength, flexural capacity, rail seat bearing performance, and resistance to impact and fatigue loading. Environmental exposure testing assesses durability against moisture, salts, and thermal cycling.

Comparative Evaluation: Results are compared against established benchmarks for wood, concrete, and composite ties to understand where UHPNC performs competitively and where further development is needed.

System-Level Thinking

Railroad ties do not function in isolation. They interact with ballast, fasteners, rail geometry, environmental conditions, and dynamic loading from train operations. A tie material must perform predictably within this larger system—maintaining stability, distributing loads effectively, and responding consistently to changing conditions.

Esurfact RRT is designed with this system-level awareness in mind. Our research considers not only material properties but also how UHPNC ties behave as part of track infrastructure over time.

Our Positioning

This is research. We are generating defensible data, working step-by-step through testing and validation. We collaborate with rail industry partners and research institutions to align our work with evaluation pathways including AREMA and ICC-ES (research phase). We are not claiming certification, deployment readiness, or performance guarantees—we are building evidence methodically.

Potential Applications

If validation is successful, long-life UHPNC ties could serve infrastructure where durability and reduced lifecycle maintenance matter most: heavy-haul freight corridors, industrial and port rail environments, logistics and defense rail networks, and regions with harsh environmental conditions. These remain target applications—not current installations.

Collaboration Invitation

We welcome collaboration with research partners, testing laboratories, and rail operators interested in exploring advanced materials for track infrastructure. Our approach prioritizes shared learning over commercial positioning.

If your work intersects with long-life rail infrastructure, we invite you to start a conversation.

This video documents a GloGreen project built in West Hills, California, during the height of COVID-era construction pricing.

The home's structural system was built around a reinforced shipping-container framework, providing a strong, code-compliant structural shell while reducing framing costs, material waste, and build time. This approach allowed the project to remain cost-controlled during a period of extreme supply-chain disruption.

Many of the finished architectural components were produced using Esurfact's Ultra High-Performance Nano Concrete (UHPNC), including the floor tiles, interior and exterior doors, patio doors, door jambs, window frames, and countertops. Fabricating these elements with Esurfact materials reduced reliance on traditional suppliers and helped stabilize costs while delivering durable, high-end finishes.

Despite being built during one of the most expensive construction cycles in recent history, the project remained highly cost-effective. Within a few years of completion, the project was sold for approximately three times its cost to build, demonstrating both the structural efficiency of the GloGreen approach and the market value of Esurfact UHPNC architectural components.

This was not a concept or showcase build—it was a real residential project, delivered under real economic pressure, validating how GloGreen's development strategy and Esurfact's material innovation work together in practical housing applications.

This blast test was designed to directly compare Ultra High-Performance Nano Concrete (UHPNC) against traditional reinforced concrete under controlled explosive conditions.

The test was conducted in California in collaboration with the Ventura County Sheriff's Bomb Squad, using C4 explosives and Alford Technologies' directional charge systems—equipment specifically engineered to focus explosive force in a single direction to breach concrete with precision.

A total of eight concrete panels were constructed for testing, representing four different thicknesses:

• Four panels were made using conventional concrete with steel rebar reinforcement.
• Four panels were made using UHPNC, a proprietary nano-engineered concrete with no rebar.

Each panel was tested progressively, starting with the thinnest sections and increasing both panel thickness and explosive charge in controlled increments.

What you'll see is a clear contrast.

The conventional concrete panels, shown on the left, fracture violently under blast pressure—producing large, high-velocity debris that becomes dangerous projectiles.

The UHPNC panels, shown on the right, behave very differently. Instead of catastrophic fragmentation, the material contains the blast energy, dramatically reducing debris and the associated risk of injury.

In the most striking result of the test, it required two pounds of C4 to breach a 4-inch-thick UHPNC panel—and even then, the blast created only an 8-inch localized hole.

In a real-world building scenario, this means the overall structural integrity would remain intact, allowing the damaged area to be repaired rather than causing a progressive failure.

Think of it like pushing a pencil through a mosquito net: you create a hole—but the net itself still holds.

You've heard the explanation. Now, let's let the UHPNC speak for itself.

This demonstration shows a UHPNC pipe section, approximately 6 inches in diameter with a ½–¾ inch wall thickness, supporting the front passenger-side tire of a Ram 2500.

Despite the concentrated load and thin profile, the pipe maintains its structural integrity without collapsing or failing. The vehicle's weight is transferred directly into the pipe, creating a real-world compressive stress scenario.

While not a formal lab test, this demonstration highlights a core characteristic of Ultra High-Performance Nano Concrete: its ability to carry significant compressive loads efficiently, even in thinner sections than conventional concrete would typically allow.