A large clam shell trailer cover made by the RTM process.
The customer wanted to offer a fully enclosed, and therefore secure, trailer typically for the transportation of cars that could also serve as a safe place to store them.
Key Points
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With hinges and gas struts giving point loadings at the front, ensuring a lightweight design that wouldn't twist was challenging. Due to the size, a special resin was developed with the supplier to ensure the matt could be fully wetted out before curing. During development, multipoint injection was used together with pressure transducers in the resin feed channel and sensors on the Surface mould, to measure deflection during the injection cycle. |
Low cost foam ribs were used to keep the manufacturing costs down but help provide stiffness; GRP ribs were also used. The GRP ribs were made by RTM; multiple sized ribs were made as a single mould, saving time and money. A large jig is used once the part has been injected and cured to locate the ribs for bonding. The part is still believed to be the largest 1 shot RTM part made in the UK. |
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