Hybrid fastening on Morgan Plus Six

Morgan still makes handmade vehicles, and in each car three core materials are featured in its construction: wood (ash), leather and aluminum.  With its new Plus Six, Morgan has produced an aluminium platform that is said to have 100% better torsional stiffness compared to its previous platforms. 

Joining technology played a part in achieving that elusive combination of light weight and great torsional stiffness combined with cost-efficiency in manufacture, and in this case the fastening expertise was supplied by Bollhoff. 

The individual aluminium components involved were initially fixed with a special adhesive as a first step and then joined together. The process required a method of joining that allowed for high-strength joints to be cut while the adhesive was cured and without pre-punching: something which was achieved using Bollhoff's RIVSET fastener.

RIVSET is a self-pierce riveting process that Bollhoff designed for use with multiple sheet materials to form lightweight, high strength joints that are also gas and water tight. The company states that RIVSET is easy to integrate into existing production lines and that manual, portable and fully automated options are included in its extensive portfolio of solutions.