Horseboxes and a cautionary tale of two metals!
This blog is created and written by KPH Ltd, see their original post here. This is their opinion and provides some interesting points. Cost, weight and ease! What is your preferred quality?
'Aluminium is without question an amazing product that for mass-market vehicle manufacturers is increasingly the material of choice. Due to massive research and development, the use of automotive aluminium has grown continuously for over 40 years and is now second only to steel as the most used material in vehicle manufacture. Large scale vehicle manufacturers are at the cutting edge of this technology and have invested heavily in its use and development. When we say large scale vehicle manufacturers, we are talking of millions of vehicles worldwide with research budgets of many millions. They have developed processes and products to compliment its use along with testing procedures for strength and lifespan.
For the equine community the focus is now on overweight horseboxes and in a short span of time aluminium has turned into a great product for weight saving and ultimately a great sales tool! However, having said all the above, aluminium is not the cure all product for the manufacture of lightweight horseboxes that you would first imagine. For all its positives there are some failings and some quite important points to be aware of.
Firstly, the amount of research and development into using aluminium within the equine industry is trifling when compared to the major vehicle manufacturers. In many cases builders use no research or development whatsoever, they simply copy what others do with the hope it outlasts the minimum warranty period.
Where aluminium is used, its failing tends to be that it does not ‘play well’ with other metals and can rot at a much accelerated pace when used incorrectly. Sadly, much of the damage we see is either from corner cutting by a manufacturer or simply poor engineering knowledge at the construction stage.
Where used correctly aluminium is a great product for external body work including doors and cappings, where it has been used successfully for many decades. On the flip side it is worth highlighting that where aluminium is used in structural areas like plank floors, ramps or horse partitions, flexing will inevitably cause damage and this is usually along welds, fixings and joints. For horse safety reasons where aluminium is used structurally, we would advise regular inspections becoming a matter of routine. I would add that over the years we have repaired many so called lightweight aluminium ramps and in every case the damage caused by flexing and poor construction has caused accelerated rot and joint cracking.
As an example we repaired a 7.5 tonne ‘All Aluminium Ramp’ of less than two years old and in this case, it was out of the warranty period by twelve months and had become the customer’s problem to fix. The ramp had failed on welded corner joints and all the ramp hinge points, prompting this cautionary tale of two metals …and hopefully giving some context to its correct use. I would reiterate that it is an excellent product when used correctly and this is not a post to dissuade customers from aluminium. Rather, it is to highlight what can and does go wrong with many horsebox builds, and raise some questions you may want to ask your coachbuilder before they even start work.'
Galvanic corrosion
'The devil is in the details and the missing details on this particular ramp were, poor engineering knowledge and missing barriers between the aluminium and bare steel ramp parts. Being the main cause of this ramp failure, I will take a moment to talk about galvanic corrosion. In simplified terms galvanic corrosion is an electrochemical process in which one metal corrodes at a much accelerated rate when two differing metals are directly touching. Over the years one of the main causes of damage we see in our horsebox repair centre is damage from galvanic corrosion and in all cases it would have been avoided with a simple barrier between the metals (usually a plastic spacer)'.
Ramp problems
'1. The first problem with the ramp in question was that it was simply a poor design and was made from standard aluminium box sections, slightly thicker than the steel equivalent. It was in essence a steel ramp design made in aluminium. Every joint was welded and had cracked; all showed some signs of metal fatigue caused by flexing. The welding of these joints allowed for no flexing whatsoever and was a serious design flaw. Horsebox ramps are rarely on even ground and flexing is a big part of daily use. All designs optimised for aluminium need to be manufactured using sections up to 40% taller than the steel equivalent and the joints should be designed to allow for flexing.
2. The barrier separating the two dissimilar metals was not total and there was in fact only paint between the steel hinges and aluminium ramp frame. In essence the ‘All Aluminium Ramp’ had many mild steel parts including hinges and the lack of a barrier between the dissimilar metals had caused severe galvanic corrosion of the aluminium box section to the point where the spring mounts had a catastrophic failure. Alarming when you consider a ramp spring can have up to 6 tonnes of compression when the ramp is open!
3. The bolts fixing the two dissimilar metals together also had no barrier and had contributed to further galvanic corrosion. This was actually a theme throughout the horsebox body and even the aluminium plank floor had corroded and then cracked around the fixing points'.
Conclusion
'We have a love hate relationship with aluminium. We love it for its lightness and relatively low cost and we hate it because it needs extra engineering processes to add the longevity and strength that we demand. Often the thickness and size of aluminium section we would need dictates that we use the more expensive and far superior stainless steel option.
It is unfortunately a sign of the times and regrettably much of what customers hear in relation to aluminium and horsebox manufacture is just sales driven patter with little basis in fact. Yes, aluminium is without question a lightweight product; however for horsebox manufacture it must have thicker, taller sections to have the same structural strength as steel or stainless steel. Even then, the design must be specific to aluminium and must allow for quite a large degree of flex. Barriers must be used where it touches other metals and this even extends the fixing bolts'.
Disclaimer- There is no right or wrong, there are multiple other scenarios to consider and other materials. Just an informative blog with thanks to KPH Ltd.