SCREW-FREE TRAILER FLOORS
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Dow Automotive, the leading manufacturer of automotive adhesives, and UPM, makers of the ubiquitous WISA truck flooring, have developed a new technique for constructing trailer floors. Instead of the traditional methods of screwing or bolting floor panels, the WISA Bonded Floor is glued directly to the chassis, with no special preparation beyond the normal clean surface of a new trailer. Any of UPM's standard NSA range of floor panels can be used, and application of the adhesive can be carried out easily in the normal production process.
Advantages to operators are the prevention of floor damage emanating from screw holes and lack of potentially corrosion-causing holes in the chassis. In the longer term, chassis designed specifically for this technique could be lighter due to the apparent increase in torsional strength. There is an increased initial cost, depending on the floor specification, but it only runs into hundreds of pounds.
The grouping is partnering with Don-Bur to manufacture the initial trailers, although it will be available to all makers. Three have so far been built, the first having been successfully trialled in Finland for eight months in temperatures ranging from +30)C to -30°C. The second is in service with an undisclosed UK operation, while the Don-Bur Teardrop Curtainsider on the IAA stand is destined to be used by Downton on its UPM logistics contract.