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April 2006 |
A perennial mission for all transport operators is the maximisation of payload while incurring the lowest possible operating expense. In recent years, truck trailer manufacturers have aided in this mission by building trailers using lightweight materials like aluminium and Domex, without compromising the durability or carrying capacity of the vehicle. By lowering trailer tare mass, operators are able to increase payload and in many cases, reduce fleet size as a direct result. Their quest has just taken a sizeable leap forward with the introduction of a new fabrication material to the local market, writes
Paul Collings.
A Belgian trailer manufacturing company, Composittrailer, recently signed an agreement allowing SA company, Afrit, to use its patented composite material to build trailers even lighter than those made using aluminium. According to Jan Verhaeghe, CEO of Composittrailer: "A composite material is a macroscopic combination of two or more materials, having a recognisable interface between them. Nature uses composites in nearly all living materials. Wood, bones, tendons, muscles and straw are composites. If nature, as the best engineer ever, selected after billions of years of experimenting to use structural composites, why shouldn't the modern engineer not look closer at this technology?"
A global trucking first
Verhaeghe has been building trailers from composite materials since1993 and with the help of NASA specialists, his company now works strictly in the material. "We have several million kilometres' experience with over 30-ton loads on a trailer made entirely out of composite materials, which makes Composittrailer unique in the world. No one has ever done this before," says Verhaeghe.
The deal between Afrit and Composittrailer coincided with a visit to South Africa of a Belgian Trade Delegation, headed by Belgium's Crown Prince Filip and Princess Mathilde. "Afrit has always sought to build light but strong trailers and this led us to use aluminium as an alternative to steel. I heard about the use of composites in early 2002 and started research and development into using the material," says Afrit CEO, Johan van der Wettering. "I met Jan in Germany in 2004 and we signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The trailer you see here today is the first joint product, a flatbed, which is an application that often finds itself on the wrong side of the law as far as overloading is concerned."
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| Afrit's first composite trailer should make some serious waves in the payload-hungry sector of the industry |
Lighter than aluminium
The new trailer deck, headboard, torsion bars and chassis are made from composite material (imported from Composittrailer in Europe). "The trailer is a combination of composite material and alumium. Afrit put together the overall specification and design of the trailer as well as the fitting of components like axles, lights, tyres and brakes to the composite components. What we have here is a trailer that's 600kg lighter than an aluminium/steel counterpart. That's a 12% decrease in tare mass," adds van der Wettering.
While the trailer will be premium priced, Verhaeghe emphasises the advantages of composite constructions: "Composite material does not suffer the same stresses and strains as aluminium or steel. There's zero fatigue, no expansion and contraction due to temperature changes and no corrosion. Where steel trailers roll over because of an inability to flex under tight turning conditions, composite material has excellent torsion properties in all directions."
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| Certain components will continue to be made from aluminium, like landing legs. |
There are currently 60 composite trailers running in Europe, says Verhaeghe, across applications such as tanker and freight hauliage. Composittrailer also has a technology partnership with US company Martin Marietta Composites, producing numerous composite trailer models for the North American trucking market.
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| The kingpin mounting is embedded in the composite, but the pin itself is demountable |
As far as local adoption is concerned, van der Wettering is focusing on niche markets. "It's really the forward-thinking operators who will buy this product," he says, "those that have already embraced the cost benefits of aluminium, for example. The trailer is ideally suited to high-density products like bricks and cement. We'll choose clients that allow for close monitoring of these new trailers. We want to nurse this product through its introductory phase, making sure it delivers top value."
For the time being, Afrit will import the necessary composite components from Belgium but has plans to invest in the machinery required to manufacture the material. "
Afrit has kept this move close to its chest for years and the partnership with Composittrailer has given it licence to, like those NASA men, make its 'small step for man - giant leap for trucking' statement.
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| Fit for a prince. From left: Albert van der Wettering, Jan Verhaeghe , Crown Prince Filip and Princess Mathilde, and Johan van der Wettering. |
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