Hadley Introduces Lightweight Plastic Barrier Parts to Commercial Vehicles

Hadley, in alliance with its affiliated company, Corvac Composites, is now offering splash shields, under engine covers and underbodies for heavy truck applications.

Hadley’s knowledge of the trucks and the customers, coupled with the product and process technology provided by Corvac, allowed the companies to create the new line of parts. The recent development of lower cost tooling and production processes has allowed automotive technology like this to be cost-effective for the lower-volume heavy truck vehicles, according to Hadley president Jim Green.

With testing, Hadley was able to demonstrate that a thin, lightweight product performs as well as the heavier option. The result as much as a 50% savings in weight and a lower cost component when compared to the traditional injection mold or thick thermoformed products. The thinner parts should be more form fitting to the truck, creating opportunities to take out even more weight, according to Hadley.

The Corvac Thin Twin option is an advanced version of the underbody technology, providing two layers of thin plastic to further increase the strength and noise-reduction capability of the truck. Noise inside the cab and drive=by noise can be reduced with the Thin Twin option.

“Hadley is focused on the heavy truck and commercial vehicle markets by providing better products solutions,” said Green. “The Hadley/Corvac relationship provides a unique opportunity to introduce the aerodynamics and weight savings from thermoformed products to the trucking industry. We are confident that this cost-effective, lightest-weight solution will be quickly adopted by the mainstream Class 8 market.”