Conference Programme

There are many types of dynamic tire testing machines, such as drums, flatbelts and crawlers. In this presentation, characteristics of various tire testing machines will be organised and differences of test data will be discussed. Differences in road surface curvature affect tire test results. When the vehicle is going straight ahead, the slip angle is not 0°. However, in all test methods, the slip angle of straight running is set to 0°. The presentation will consider whether tire test methods such as ISO simulate a real running tire and whether the test method is effective.

The lateral transient impact of tires on vehicle dynamics and the need to accurately simulate this has been increasing over the years. GCAPS’ high dynamic equipment enables unique research in this area. The research will review testing methods and current processing methods and introduce a new processing method to identify the lateral relaxation length. These methods are applied to different tire types. Different conditions such as speed, inflation pressure, application rate, test waveform and endpoints all change the relaxation length. A suggested method of implementing a non-linear transient model will be included.

The presentation shows some experimental results regarding tire-road contact stress distributions, measured simultaneously on each square unit area of contact patch in three orthogonal directions. Some functional conditions refer to: slick passenger car tire, free rolling at low speed, and different parameter values such as internal pressure, vertical load and toe angle. Conclusions extracted from the experimental results are discussed.

All of a tire’s cornering, braking and driving forces are generated within the contact patch. A new method has been developed to measure the shape of the contact patch in various rolling and loaded operating conditions on a flatbelt tire test machine. Using this method, contact patch shape attributes have been compared with important tire performance attributes such as stiffness and grip. Initial results are discussed and an approach to modelling contact patch attributes for use in intelligent tires’ real-time force estimation is presented.

Truck tire durability issues continue to attract considerable attention in the USA. Recent increases in posted speeds on USA expressways, together with further, widespread deterioration of pavement surfaces, have seemingly combined to at least partially suggest the cause of the damage as well as ultimate failures in truck tires. This presentation will include impact, x-ray and fatigue endurance test results for highway truck tires in the 22.5 and 24.5 sizes, new and reduced tread depth, and conventional and super single tires.

The High Speed TireScan system captures the impact of speed, motion and inertial forces on a tire at speeds up to 265km/h (165mph). The robust array of pressure-sensing elements scans at 20kHz as the tire rolls across the system. This system allows engineers to evaluate tire performance at high speeds, identify failure modes and measure tire distortion from inertial force.

The presentation will discuss measuring the structure-borne noise of stationary and rotating tires using a newly developed measuring wheel in combination with a laser Doppler vibrometer. This will include recording the airborne noise inside and outside the tire to understand the connection between structural dynamics and sound emissions of rotating tires.

Today’s vehicle development is impossible to imagine without computer-aided engineering in the form of multi-body simulations. Therefore, accurate tire models are needed for reliable component and full car simulation results. Standard parameterisation of tread and footprint characteristics is done on the basis of static data. In this investigation, IKA’s mobile tire test rig and A&D’s Force Matrix Sensor are used to measure dynamic tire footprints for the improvement of physical tire models such as FTire. By these measures it is possible to quantify shear stresses and pressure distribution in the contact patch in simulations on digitised asphalt surfaces.

There are always questions about the endurance limit of rubber articles, especially tires. The crack growth rate is a lifetime-limiting parameter, but what is the lowest load at which no crack growth happens? A methodology of laboratory testing will be introduced, which is capable of estimating this threshold tearing energy (intrinsic strength). Although a classical crack growth experiment with such a low tearing energy is practically impossible because it would need months of testing time to find the energy limit between crack propagates or not, the introduced methodology needs only few hours to be performed with reliable results.

The AI3T is set for an automated indoor tire test track. After an overview of the current situation, three topics will be discussed: Dufournier's unrivalled experience in this area; quality of measurement with no equivalent to date; unique industrial test capability.

While electrification and auto-pilot technologies are evolving vehicles, requirements for tire are increasing. Understanding dynamic tire behaviour in the road-contacting area is becoming more important for tire and vehicle chassis development. A&D has introduced placing a force matrix sensor (FMS) at the road surface to observe dynamic tire contact patch behaviours when the vehicle runs over the sensor. Now FMS is installed in a drum tire testing rig to scan the tire contact force in lateral direction simultaneously. This enables the dynamic contact patch behaviour to be analysed more precisely only with tire. This paper describes the outline and basic measurement results of the FMS drum tire testing rig.

Rolling resistance ends up as heat in the tire – this is universally true. Tire temperature profiling in the laboratory provides very interesting comparisons and correlates very closely with the RR score. When we start to measure tire temperature profiles when driving on the road network, the profiles are dramatically different to those measured in the laboratory. Is the laboratory measurement correct or good for customers to compare tire RR performance or is it a little or totally misleading, just like the engine efficiency numbers?

Maserati aims to reduce the development time from three years to one. The quality of the final product is extremely important for the customer. It can only be guaranteed by testing the cars in combination with different tires on track and analysing performances in depth. Maserati has improved the CAE process by using CDTire/3D. The whole procedure has been validated. The key questions related to the tire during the early design phase include: which tire/rim size to choose; how closely it is possible to predict the key performance indicator variations; how to improve the driving experience by using driving simulators.

The presentation will explain how Prometeon, in a 100% open innovation environment, is working with external companies to improve the synergy with OEMs and satisfy the coming market requirements. It will also show some preliminary results from the collaboration between Prometeon and Megaride, and thanks to the research activity done at the University of Naples Federico II.

Advances in vehicle onboard hardware performance and in increasingly connected mobility pushed the research activities of UniNaVehicleDynamics group towards the implementation of modelling and data-processing technologies developed for automotive partners, for real-time simulation platforms and vehicle control logics. The availability of an onboard tool for the evaluation of tire forces, of machine-learning-based virtual sensors and of a procedure for the identification of reference tire models allowed the group to develop an HMI concept that can teach the driver to 'feel the limit' and to get progressively closer to it. Such technology is now the subject of further improvements orientated to smart mobility scenarios.

Vehicle R&D teams aim at reducing development cycles to produce a car. The best way to reduce the development time span is to speed up the concept phase. Using simulation tools, it is possible to modify the gradient of increasing maturity of the project without losing quality. Fraunhofer developed a methodology to use CDTire to predict the effect of the tire/rim sizes and tire inflation pressure on the tire characteristics. New ‘virtual tires’ together with the ‘virtual vehicle’ are used to estimate the effect of the tire variations on the vehicle performances (KPIs). The process has been validated by Maserati SpA against vehicle/tires measurements.

In this study, a 3D non-linear tire model was developed using rubber hyperplastic and viscoelastic properties along with all the reinforcement plies’ geometrical and material properties. Stress field is investigated under inflation pressure only, inflation pressure along with tire vertical load, and steady-state rolling and cornering conditions. A radial tire of 225/55 R17 is cross-sectioned and modelled in this research, and analysis is conducted using different speed, pressure and vertical loads. Finally, the tire design parameters effect is also studied on the stress field under different operating conditions.

This study evaluates the feasibility of using hybrid simulation to quantify vehicle-level behaviour with physical tires. The hybrid simulation system consists of a vehicle dynamic model (MSC CarSim) combined with a tire specimen in a loading rig (MTS Flat-Trac CT+). Hybrid simulation provides a quick way to evaluate tires on vehicle handling performance without the need to parameterise and validate a tire model and with higher fidelity than pure simulation.

Tire-soil interaction models define the forces, stresses and movement at the boundary between tire and soil. This work assessed the real-time capabilities of these models. Material and method: i) Code the models using MATLAB/Simulink; ii) Combine a full car with each tire-soil interaction model for a horizontal track; iii) Deploy and evaluate models on different hardware platforms. Results: Given in terms of computational performance (FLOPS, execution time, hardware) and capabilities (tire and soil parameter combinations, longitudinal relaxation length, bulldozing effects). Conclusions: There is a trade-off between model accuracy, tuning complexity and computational resources required.

The presence of a tire model is vital in the context of vehicle development based on virtual tools. As vehicle development increasingly relies on driving simulators, it becomes necessary to enable the support of different mathematical tire models, suitable for different application areas. Through a selection of discipline-specific use cases, the paper illustrates how the tire models developed and supported by the main tire manufacturers and research centres can be implemented in the detailed real-time vehicle model used in a driving simulator environment, correlating the results of the simulation with experimental testing.

The Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) kinematics framework is used widely in rolling contact analysis due to its main advantages in implementing the detailed contact analysis with local mesh refinement and time-independent formulation of elastic stationary rolling. Tires with circumferential grooves satisfy the axisymmetric constraint, whereas tires with detailed tread pattern do not comply with axisymmetric constraint of the ALE formulation. The goal of this research is to develop the coupling of tread pattern (transient dynamic Lagrangian) with tire base structure (steady-state ALE) using kinematic constraints. The advantage of such coupling will complete the whole picture of treaded tires simulation in ALE framework.

Predicting the hydroplaning velocity of a particular tire is an important safety criterion for tire manufacturers. This presentation investigates a new co-simulation technique between Abaqus/Explicit and XFlow – a Lattice-Boltzmann Method (LBM) CFD code to solve this challenging problem. The tire is modelled in Abaqus/Explicit, and the water is modelled in XFlow. In the co-simulation, information exchanges occur though the contact surface between the tire and the water. The presentation focuses on guidelines for setting up the co-simulation for obtaining meaningful results in hydroplaning simulations.

The physical modelling of tire-road interaction phenomena, approached in a multi-physics MF-based simulation platform, allows the prediction and reproduction of local distribution of tire temperature, tread wear and adherence within the contact patch, also accounting for road texture roughness and tread compound characteristics. Such a tool, comprising thermoRIDE/adheRIDE models, was awarded Tire Technology of the Year at the 2018 TTI Awards. It can be employed, as in the proposed case study, from the beginning of the vehicle manufacturing design phase, to understand how to exploit the tire to maximise performance and safety, and also to take dynamically into account the physical phenomena exhibited at the tire/road interface, with the aim of reaching a higher level of predictivity in tire development and in motorsport real-time simulations.

Tire non-uniformity, characterised by force variation at the axle of a rotating tire, is singularly responsible for vibration, ride comfort and irregular wear. The present work attempts to determine the effects of various influencing parameters, from both manufacturing and design, individually and in combination, on tire uniformity through simulation. Pitch sequencing, component spotting, splicing and run-out have been included in the finite-element model. A mesh optimisation study for choice of element, refinement and other controls was undertaken initially to minimise numerical variations while simulating low-speed run on a uniformity drum. Finally, an optimised combination of the said influencing parameters has been proposed and verified.

Sustainability has become an important driver in the tire industry. The fuel efficiency of tires has been improved, noise reduction work is ongoing and raw materials produced from renewable sources are being developed. Yet implementing these materials takes time, and global capacity build-up without significant cost implications for tire companies won’t happen quickly. Instead, smaller steps must be taken. In this paper we discuss the use of naphthenic tire oils with moderate aromatic content, taking a pragmatic approach to affordable sustainability: achieving on-par tread compound performance compared to any existing tire oil but with 30-50% lower aromaticity.

A new class of alkylphenol tackifier resins has been developed, where the use of environmentally regulated monomers such as PTOP, PTBP, PNP, and in some cases formaldehyde, has been eliminated from the manufacturing process of alternative alkyphenol tackifier resins. The new synthetic process has the capability to make tackifier resins with a wide range of softening points and molecular weights. The performance of new phenolic tackifier resins has been evaluated using standard sidewall compounding formulation. The overall performance of new phenolic tackifier resins was comparable to industry-leading PTOP-formaldehyde-based tackifier resin, but in the case of tack and peel adhesion, new resins showed improvement.

The use of highly dispersible silica (HDS) in tread is already a key contributor to the production of fuel-efficient tires. Let's go beyond by adding highly dispersible silica in non-tread parts like sidewall, belt and bead to improve tire performance. This presentation underlines how Solvay's silica speciality portfolio in tire non-tread parts is meeting the increasingly demanding performance requirements in terms of rolling resistance.

New-generation tires are required to reach a superb performance of wear resistance and rolling resistance. Because of a wide range of microstructure and chemical group, carbon black is the superior material for reinforcing various polymers in the tire. This presentation will focus on the performance improvement of innovative carbon black grades with surface modified structure. Experiments show that wear performance and rolling resistance can be improved in tires.

The design of low-rolling-resistance tires is an important issue for current and future mobility. The next generation of tires will meet greenhouse gas legislation targets established in the European Union. Functionalised SSBRs contribute to improve rolling resistance, wet grip and abrasion of tires. This presentation describes the functionalisation strategy followed by Dynasol Group to design SSBRs for winter tires. A molecular simulation model was developed to determine the characteristics of the functional groups in the SSBRs

Compounders are looking to use NdBR grades that are easy to mix and process but show no drawback in performance in comparison with the highly linear, high molecular weight standard NdBR grades. For this purpose Arlanxeo designed and developed modified polymer structures called Buna Nd EZ BR grades, bringing together a specific form of polymer branching and chemical modification of the polymer composition. This results in easier and faster filler incorporation for carbon black and silica compounds to generate an optimised combination of excellent processing and high-end compound properties compared with other high-cis butadiene rubbers.

The tire industry wants to reduce or replace cobalt fatty acid salts (CS) due to an increase in cost, a problematic supply chain and regulatory issues. We have shown that hexamethylene thiosulphate bunte salts used in lab-scale tire steel cord formulations may provide superior properties to CS. We show how these bunte salts mechanistically interact with other additives in rubber formulations to give the desired performance. We show how they interact at the interface between the rubber and brass phase to provide excellent original and corrosively aged steel cord adhesion versus CS.

Eastman Crystex Cure Pro insoluble sulphur is a highly optimised polymeric sulphur specifically engineered for maximum performance characteristics. It is a unique performer because it has the important features that tire manufacturers want in insoluble sulphur: enhanced flow, superior dispersion characteristics and improved thermal stability. Enhanced flow means easier handling and faster fill rates. Superior dispersion facilitates uniform mixing in less time. High thermal stability allows higher mixing temperatures, faster calender speeds and avoidance of bloom. With these distinct properties, Cure Pro enables tire manufacturers to improve productivity and achieve critical operational cost and energy savings.

Silica/silane as a highly effective reinforcing system in synthetic rubber compounds is well established, and the performance has been demonstrated especially in passenger car tire tread compounds for decades. The use of this system in natural rubber compounds, more precisely in truck tire tread compounds, is still limited even though the advantages of rolling resistance and wet grip are accomplished there, too. This is due to the fact that it is easier to achieve excellent abrasion resistance by carbon black. The presentation covers compound optimisation strategies based on different silica/silane systems to close the gap to carbon black.

Kraton, as a leading global producer of styrenic block co-polymers and pine chemicals, develops high-performance materials that differentiate customers’ products and meet multi-market needs. The company's global footprint, reliable supply, extensive expertise and integrated portfolio of high-quality products enable customers to push the boundaries of performance to power the future of innovation. For the last decade, tread enhancement additives (TEAs) have been used to influence the viscoelastic properties of passenger car radial (PCR) tire compound. When DEA oil was banned in certain regions, TEAs became of major interest for compensating for the loss of properties using other oils. Depending on the chemistry and physical properties, TEAs provide various benefits for meeting the performance needs of PCR tires (winter, UHP, all season, etc.). The Kraton TEA portfolio offers different solutions to these needs. Further development at Kraton has led to a unique modified terpene TEA design with a high softening point, a low polarity and a small molecular weight. This TEA allows for better compatibility compared with hydrocarbon TEA with a comparably high softening point. This TEA shows positive contributions to important performance parameters of the PCR compound, and this will be shown during the presentation. The compatibility of the new TEA has been investigated in the model elastomer/TEA formulation as well as in real tread compounds. The good correlation between the two will be presented, showing the value of the model formulation in predicting the performance of the TEA in tread compounds.

As the market calls for lower rolling resistance and increased fuel economy, the use of silica in tire compounds has grown. The presentation will cover a study designed to help understand the benefits of using intermesh mixing to improve silica dispersions and assess alternate silicas in high silica tread compounds. Pertinent data from these early mixing studies will be presented alongside further explanation of the silica dispersion method by way of SEM photomicrographs and ImageJ software. This method can be used to quantify the silica dispersion of alternative mixing protocols and alternative silicas.

Our collective environmental footprint and how to increase the sustainability of the products we manufacture and use are issues that can no longer be postponed. For the tire, this has meant the introduction of new raw materials made from non-mineral oil sources. Important as the improved sustainability profile is, no compromise on the technical performance of the final product – the tire – is accepted. This paper will present and discuss the results achieved in tire rubber compounds prepared from non-mineral-oils plasticisers, showing similar or improved performance compared with those made with traditional mineral oils.

The presentation deals with actual shop floor experience resulting in major savings in natural resources, thus helping to reduce GHG emissions. The way people are involved at shop floor level using simple tools can result in major improvements in the ecology of our environment.

Based on the previous work of Gent and co-workers, the viscoelastic response during steady and dynamic crack growth of unfilled and filled SBR is investigated by tensile tests at trousers samples and tear fatigue measurements at SENT samples, respectively. For unfilled SBR, both types of measurements indicate that the tearing energy is dominated by the viscoelastic properties of the polymer. For filled SBR, only dynamic tearing is found to be dominated by viscoelasticity. For steady tearing, filler networking seems to alter crack propagation rates and the viscoelastic fingerprint is no longer visible.

It can be challenging to describe the extrudability behaviour of highly filled rubber compounds on a lab scale. The lab-extrusion test using the ‘Garvey die’ is a common technique to describe the extrudability properties of elastomers. It was carried out in a systematic study for highly filled SBR compounds based on the 'green tire recipe'. Compound variations were realised by changing the polymer base (linear and branched) as well as the filler system (carbon black, silica including silane). Evaluating the results, it was possible to elucidate influences of the different ingredients on the extrudability behaviour.

Rotating cylindrical rubber specimens were rubbed against a water-lubricated smooth acrylic surface. The light from an LED light source irradiated the contact region from the back of the acrylic surface, and the total reflected light was observed by a high-speed camera. We investigate the distribution of the slip amount of the real contact regions. It is found that high-frequency stick-slip behaviour is generated in each contact region.

In this study, we investigated a method to improve the noise component of a tire when the pattern shape of the tread is worn out. Since the noise deteriorates due to the reduction in tread weight and the increase in stiffness at the time of tire wear, it is necessary to find the cause of the NVH of deterioration through tire characteristic test analysis between the new tire before wear and the worn tire. New tires and worn tires running at a certain distance in the general market were collected and tested in anechoic chambers.

Wet skid resistance (WSR) requires high energy dissipation at high frequencies by the tread compound and a strain-induced, reversible phase change. For this, the compound should respond within the glass-to-rubber transition zone where it shows maximum mechanical hysteresis. For prediction of WSR, a dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) based method is most commonly used, which utilises the value of tan at 0°C at low frequency as the indicator. However, these measurements are not always in agreement with the real tire test results. In this work, an alternative approach based on broadband dielectric spectroscopy is discussed.

The friction and abrasion behaviour are of great importance not only in the automotive sector but also in the aircraft industry. The aircraft tires should withstand as many take-off and landing cycles as possible until the maximum level of wear is reached. At the Institute of Dynamics and Vibration Research, the friction and abrasion behaviour is investigated experimentally at profile block level for varying operational conditions. From these measurements, phenomenological friction and abrasion equations are derived. Subsequently, the results are implemented in an overall tire model and the tire wear is simulated under a wide range of operating conditions.

While travelling off-road, gravel, stone, soil, sand and stubble will cause very strong impacts on tires. In those driving conditions, serious erosion influences the lifetime of tires. This effect is is well known as chipping and cutting (CC). The experimental determination of the CC resistance of tire rubber by using fully instrumented lab testing equipment will be described. The test conditions are parameterised, all acting forces and energies are recorded over time, and the CC wear is quantitatively determined. The presentation will also show how the results correlate with crack propagation measurements on the same materials.

Tire characteristics depend on a huge variety of parameters. A precise simulation of any possible behaviour isn’t possible without exact knowledge of the interaction between tire and road. Therefore, numerous test benches have been developed and improved continuously. Fka has recently introduced a 3D contour scanner for digitisation of tire and tread geometries. This tool enables not only the measurement of exact geometric values like curvature radius, shoulder profile and cross-section but also the determination of tread wear after handling measurements. In this investigation, this information is used for predicting and simulating the shear stress in the contact patch during handling manoeuvres.

Many rubber products (tires, anti-vibration components, etc.) are dynamically loaded and their fatigue behaviours have to be studied to assess and improve their service lifetimes. The purpose here is to characterise the fatigue crack growth behaviour of a filled SBR compound, representative of tire treads of cars. The influence of the cyclic waveform and of the temperature (isothermal tests) on the cracking behaviour of this SBR material will be evaluated. More innovative experimental methods have also been considered to study the influence of a mechanical overload that could potentially reproduce daily impacts undergone by tires and temperature variations (anisothermal tests).

Road-rail vehicles (RRVs) are the new shunting engines. Their pulling power relies on road tires rolling on rails with transferable traction forces three times higher than on conventional steel wheels. This research is to accurately predict the pulling power of RRVs by means of multibody systems (MBS). Key to an accurate prediction is a valid tire model for use on rails. This in turn requires tire-on-rail testing equipment, which will be described in this presentation.

The purpose of the research was to study the influence of the properties of halogenated butyl rubbers on the processing properties of rubber compounds, the physical and mechanical properties and gas permeability of vulcanisates. The presentation delivers the analysis of the narrow dispersed samples produced by PJSC Nizhnekamskneftekhim in comparison with equivalents. This paper presents information on the influence of rubber Mooney viscosity and the halogen content on the properties of the carbon black vulcanisates.

Rubbers act as Hukian solids under 5% of strain. Tire reflection and deflection as a semi-solid is iso-energetic behaviour, and some of the conformation is not accessible due to anthropy, which is the main reason for loss and heat buildup in rubbery solids. Tie-points is a very effective influence on rubber chain behaviour, and this presentation discusses the best ways to decrease tie-point losses with new lubricants.

Stress relaxation testing provides a methodology for investigating the viscoelasticity of rubber or rubber-like materials. Although compound processability could be evaluated in this way, this paper tries to find if there is any correlation between stress relaxation factors and some physical characteristics such as tensile strength, reinforcing index, resilience, heat buildup, HD and energy dissipation. To do this, 16 different truck compounds were produced and tested. Finally the results were analysed.

Understanding of chain-branching effects is essential for the structure-property-processing relationship in polymer science. An attempt has been made to understand the branching of different synthetic rubbers using large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) test in RPA2000 and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) with triple detector system. From the LAOS test, long chain branching (LCB) index and Liissajou curves give valuable information about the branching characteristics and conformation of rubber chains. In GPC, using Mark-Houwink plot gives qualitative information about the branching characteristics of rubbers. A combination of RPA LAOS test and GPC analysis can enable better understanding of rubber branching. Authors include Tapas Ranjan Mohanty, S Ramakrishnan, S K P Amarnath, Daniele Lorenzetti, P K Mohamed

The tire industry serves as a champion for the circular economy. Tire manufacturers look to incorporate sustainable solutions to reduce a reliance on natural resources and improve the performance of market-ready products. In 2017, Michelin acquired the speciality chemicals company Lehigh Technologies to enhance its circular economy strategy and help boost and expand Lehigh’s micronised rubber powder (MRP) technology across the whole tire industry. MRP is one of several solutions tire companies and Michelin are using or exploring to reduce their dependence on oil-derived materials. This presentation will explore multiple options to achieve a circular economy – some of which are industrialised today, others that are on the horizon – and the challenges for adoption in tires.

Looking towards 2030, the circular economy and reusing a valuable resource, tire rubber will continue to play a pivotal role in the future of the industry. We expect more key players will embrace the use of recycled materials and drive them to become mainstream. However, there are challenges in reusing tire rubber in a traditionally conservative industry. There is now consensus that business as usual is no longer enough. Thanks to new manufacturing technology developed by Lehigh Technologies, new recycled rubber materials and compounding technologies have been developed that are enabling the ever-increasing use of renewable materials in new tires.

The recycling of tires after their intended use continues to be an important subject from an ecological perspective. Rubber crumb is of prime interest in sustainability materials, and reduces the problem of tire disposal. This study explores the Taguchi experiment method to identify the optimum dosage of crumb rubber according to different mesh sizes. This research confirms the efficacy of rubber crumb in typical tire applications.

Tire recycling in 2019 is still largely dominated by thermal valorisation but it is changing towards material valorisation. To recycle carbon blacks from tire to tire requires an understanding of tire feedstocks, the heat history of the recovery process and carbon black requirements in tire tread. Practical data will be given as well as a global industry overview.

Pyrolytic carbon black was produced using a rotary kiln oven with a daily batch capacity of 5 MT. Its application as a reinforcing filler in natural rubber was evaluated. The pyrolysis was performed in an inert atmosphere at a temperature range from 400-500°C for approximately eight hours. Inorganic content was approximately 12% (primarily zinc oxide) and sulphur content was approximately 3%. Secondary treatments achieved an increase of approximately 10% in oil absorption capacity and an increase in mechanical properties in NR compounds, very close to those of commercial carbon black grades.

A new technology will be presented that changes complete end-of-life tires into a valuable and innovative raw material. After grinding the whole tire and separating steel and textiles, the powder is coated with a special agent and then the material is heat treated in a twin-screw extruder. Examples of applications of the ELT compound will be presented.

Use of recycled materials derived from worn tires is gaining importance mainly due to issues related to sustainability, cost reduction and saving virgin materials in tire manufacturing. This presentation discusses current recycling processes including their effectiveness in potentially replacing virgin materials in tire manufacturing.

The presentation will discuss the potential of the new form of upcycling based on the speaker's own experience in building and processing tires in a pyrolysis plant. It will, among other things, highlight the differences between tire types and the result of tire processing, and will discuss the possibilities for recycling products in the tire industry.

High-structure micro-fine tread rubber crumb is developed using an ambient grinding process and is being produced from used TBRs. This is a cost-effective and technically strong solution for manufacturing new radial and bias tires. Its greatest advantage is safe disposal of an environmental hazard (used tires) in environmentally friendly way. The process has been successful in India and the product is being used by leading Indian tire majors.

In tire production, increasing amounts of unvulcanised rubber are being produced. The reasons for this include the frequent changeovers resulting from an increasing product variety and rubber mixing batches that are out of specification. For financial and environmental reasons it is desirable to return these valuable raw materials to the production process. This process must be cost-effective and, in order to meet quality demands, the material must be treated gently. The TRP Reworker System, which is based on the UTH Two-Roll Plasticiser, incorporates new technology that combines several proven processes. This continuously operating Reworker System offers new possibilities.

There are number of tire recycling plants in Bangladesh operating on a small scale as small and medium enterprises (SME). As a small country with a huge population density, Bangladesh needs to pay more attention to this sector to protect the environment, recycle the product to produce raw material for tires, and make roads or pavements with tire waste products.

The presentation offers an overview of the state of the art in liquid-phase mixing of S-SBR and silica, including history, the current situation and implications for the tire industry at large. The paper is an 'insider's guide' to the current state of the art of wet mixing, and focuses especially on how this technology could change the status quo in the tire industry to the same or even greater extent that the introduction of the radial did 60 years ago.

Various physical properties obtained by incorporating CNF into SBR have been measured in this study and will be discussed. The features will be compared with the results of other researchers previously reported. The main topic of this presentation is how to overcome the mismatching relationship between the hydrophilic cellulose and hydrophobic rubber.

Silica-rubber composites have been prepared, the properties of which were adjusted through the matrix-filler interactions. An ionically modified self-healable bromobutyl rubber served as the rubber matrix. The aim of the present work was to figure out to what extent the properties of BIIR can be improved further by the addition of silica without sacrificing self-healing. In order to adjust the interactions between the rubber matrix and the filler, the filler surface was modified by silanisation with three alkylsilanes. The influence of the different alkylsilanes and the mixing procedures on the material properties is discussed.

Considerable improvement in mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of elastomers can be achieved by use of carbon nanofillers, since they possess a high aspect ratio and generate strong polymer-filler interactions. In the present study the orientating capability of anisotropic fillers under strain as well as the formation of a filler network are taken into account to explain the performance of this material. Processing parameters and compound formulation have a strong impact on filler dispersion, which in turn influences the properties of conductive elastomers. A review of these relevant key aspects is presented.

The demands of green mobility have forced chemical companies to introduce highly specialised material structures into the market to meet these demands. However, the know-how in terms of understanding the flow behaviour of compounds made of these materials is still lagging behind. Using examples of the recently marketed EZ group of NdBR products, the presentation will provide the results of some case studies where targeted testing has shown to improve understanding of what exactly the proper processing parameters in each case are.

Energy dissipation is a major factor in tire development. For aircraft tires, a high slip ratio upon landing as well as take-off causes a rapid temperature increase. In general, treads of aircraft tires contain natural rubber, which is prone to thermal degradation and thus affects the performance. Therefore, a development of treads showing a low hysteresis at the critical temperature is essential. The influence of processing and compound composition was studied. For hybrid carbon black-silica NR/BR compounds, the addition sequence of ZnO and DPG was optimised, and four types of butadiene rubber differing in linearity as well as cis and final content were compared.

The network of a vulcanisate has a significant influence on the performance of the rubber part during service life. Rubber articles are often exposed to high temperatures or severe mechanical stress, which causes major changes in the properties and may lead to destruction of the articles. Short sulphur crosslinks offer high temperature stability, but the tear and dynamic behaviour are insufficient for tire applications. Therefore, the temperature-sensitive polysulphidic crosslinks are used. For conventional or semi-efficient crosslinking systems, Perkalink900 can improve the stability of rubber articles. Vulcuren as a hybrid crosslinker forms very flexible and stable crosslinks directly during vulcanisation for excellent performance.

Asahi Kasei solution SBRs (S-SBRs), developed with unique functionalisation and high molecular weight, bring significant improvement to the balance between fuel efficiency, wet grip and wear resistance of high-performance eco-tire treads. In this study, different types of functionalised SBRs are synthesised by anionic polymerisation, to investigate the influence of each functional group on the properties of silica-filled compounds. A special emphasis will be laid on the relationship between polymer structure and performance in vulcanised compounds.

This paper proposes a novel approach to increasing EPDM and EPM resistance to non-polar solvents by creating polymer blends. These are either an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) or thermoplastic vulcanised blends of EPDM or EPM with low-molecular-weight polymeric material. This oligomer is a cyclic oligosulphide containing at least one tetrasulphide group in the molecule. The focus of this paper is on a proposed mechanism of crosslinking facilitated by both organic peroxide and sulphur, with the oligomer becoming a sulphur donor and participating in the crosslinking process. This is a potential platform mechanism for creating unique elastomer materials

Shin-Etsu has developed rubber modified silanes that can provide a strong interaction between silica and the SBR/BR polymers, and has also continued to optimise the formulations, conditions and structure of molecule. The company will present the evaluation test results in those studies.

The dispersion of polar silica fillers in non-polar hydrocarbon rubbers is a key issue in green tires. Silane coupling agents can enhance interaction between silica and the rubber, but they only have a limited effect on improving the dispersion of silica. It is important to further improve the dispersion of silica, thereby lowering the energy consumption of the tire.This paper will present two high-performance additives used in precipitated silica-filled tire tread and their probable reaction mechanism, showing lower Payne effect, improved wet traction and lower rolling resistance performance with excellent mechanical properties compared with those traditional additives.

Hysteresis energy loss is significantly caused by free or unbound polymer chain-end segments and polymer loops in the cross-linked rubber, and by insufficiently distributed fillers. Multi-functionalised SSBR solves the aforementioned challenge forming tire formulations of low rolling resistance and excellent grip property profile, while often deteriorating polymer filler composition viscosity. This phenomenon may reduce the feasibility of tire production or significantly decrease tire production run rate. Therefore, Trinseo scientists developed a new polymer-intrinsic technology that enables generation of low rubber formulation viscosities, smooth rubber sheet surface appearance, good rubber composition extrusion characteristics and excellent rolling resistance – wet grip balance.

Momentive’s NXT Z 45 silane, an oligomeric mercapto silane coupling agent, incorporated into a model passenger tread compound, can enable improved rolling resistance, wet traction and wear performance as compared with standard sulphur silanes. This presentation provides insights into making NXT Z 45 silane-based rubber compounds easier to process. These methods are based on model chemistry, computational modelling and rheology studies. Using these approaches, superior performance and enhanced processability of rubber compounds containing NXT Z 45 silane were achieved.

Due to the change in the morphological properties of N100, N200 series black and N550, N660 with non-ASTM black, the mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties increase, leading to low heat build-up, better cut growth and flexing resistance. The tan∆, Payne effect and swelling effect are also slowed in this improving trade. Research results reveal a better hydrodynamic effect due to dissimilar particle size and different aggregate size distribution. These improved properties might lead to lower rolling resistance even at higher speed.

Ongoing globalisation while dealing with the current and impending trade barriers and the demand for higher product quality with more flexible production are challenges confronting our industry on a daily basis. To stay ahead in this increasingly competitive environment, tire producers require production solutions that are future-proof. The dilemma between flexibility on one hand and highly automated efficiency on the other, combined with uncertainty regarding future trends, creates a huge challenge for machinery manufacturers. Instead of old-style machinery-based thinking, the solution should be based on intelligent platforms allowing for continuous development and improvements to be future-proof today and make tire production ready for the future.

M&A have a very strong influence on the tire and rubber industry. In fact they are a game changer in many cases and an important cause of technology transfer worldwide. The presentation will discuss the art of arranging a successful M&A between companies and the impact this has on the industry.

The presentation provides an updated overview of the latest innovations made by Marangoni in 2017-2018 and introduced into the latest tire building machines. This includes the 'digital twin' approach for design, and automation features to enhance productivity and tire quality outcome.

Making tires can be challenging. Demand increases every year for tires that last longer and can handle all types of surfaces while being produced with a high level of quality and flexibility. We will discuss the manufacturing advantages of enabling a digital twin of a curing press and other machinery so that engineering enhancements can be made virtually, without the need for a physical machine. In addition, the advantages of simulating the entire process can enable bottleneck analysis and detailed planning. We will show real examples of the tire digital thread and discuss how these tools can provide significant benefits.

The Indian market has grown to produce over four million cars/year, putting it behind only China, Japan and Germany. In addition, it has a growing economy and expenditure in research and development in the areas of chemistry, IT and automotive. In this presentation CEAT reviews the market trends in the Indian tire and automotive industries, with a focus on the performance of tires and the trends in connectivity, autonomous driving, car sharing and alternative fuels. The second part of the presentation shows how the level of technology in products for Indian customers is increasing.

There is a digital and data revolution happening in the tire industry today. It is difficult for many tire manufacturers to make sense of all the new emerging technologies and associated buzzwords. Discovering what is important and which technologies can provide true return can be very challenging at best. These new and emerging developments are also difficult to prioritise and then integrate into a vast base of installed equipment. This presentation will help to clarify and sort through these questions across the whole enterprise, with a focus on the data-rich final finish area of the manufacturing plant.

Over the last few years, the concept of a 'green economy' has moved into the mainstream of policy discourse across the world. The green economy is a development strategy that harmonises both economic development and ecological sustainability. The general public's perception of the rubber industry is that it is not environmentally friendly or energy efficient, uses non-renewable resources, and produces non-biodegradable waste, etc. To change this perception, the rubber industry has to work towards the green economy through development of green technology. The challenges and opportunities for the Indian automotive and tire industries working towards the green economy will be discussed.

The automotive industry is one of the main driving forces for the European economy, providing employment to 12 million workers. But the sector is facing many structural changes, including stricter emission standards and decarbonisation as part of new mobility concepts. A high quality of education, skills and training is the basis to ensure the strong position of the automotive industry in the future: knowledge, innovation, R&D and competence development are mainly important. The future jobs will have a different mix of skills and will require permanent upgrading of skill levels and competencies. The European DRIVES project is dealing with this challenge.

Through more extensive networking integration of the machines in the tire industry, a big potential is emerging, which is shaping current and future needs in a more cost-effective and intuitive way. The CytroBox of Bosch Rexroth, one of the biggest electrohydraulic suppliers, is matching expectations with a smart HPU design from 7.5 to 100kW. The benefits include up to 60% energy saving, a 70% more compact design with 80% less oil and low noise. Furthermore, the integration of the IoT concept is redefining the operative frame to a full Industry 4.0 factory.

How is innovation perceived by tire users? Thanks to the proximity to the consumer, the tire distributor is a fundamental link in the tire industry’s value chain because it can very closely observe consumers’ habits and expectations in terms of innovation. EFTD is one of the leading European tire distributors and, based on extensive market research, will explain how the global distributor of the future will increasingly support tire manufacturers by providing direct feedback from the market, and will therefore have a decisive influence on market trends.

Global demand for sustainable mobility is driving the tire industry to rethink the way we develop new products and technologies. The desire to improve the performance, safety and lifespan of tires while reducing the cost and environmental impact of production is driving tire companies to explore innovative solutions that have the potential to transform tire manufacturing as we know it. Those companies that harness the power of innovative materials, processes and business models will be best placed to meet these challenges. In this presentation, we share one example of how innovative thinking can transform tire performance and production.

In a first view on Industry 4.0, many IT-driven topics, like cloud technology and big-data analyses are discussed to solve the new challenges involved in smart tire manufacturing. But the overall goal of product customisation leads to an enormous number of challenges on the shop floor. Among others, the production material transparency in combination with automated material flow is one of the most important issues to be solved. The additional demand on tire traceability, driven by OEMs, leads to a consequent usage of automated ID technology such as RFID. Additionally, the lot size requires new human-machine cooperation in tire building.

The worldwide annual capacity for laser engraving of 2D matrix codes on tires exceeds 30 million codes per year in more than 20 tire plants. Driven by convincing use cases for passenger car OEMs, tire management solutions for commercial tires as well as regulatory requirements, the capacity is expected to grow to 150 million per year until 2028. The presentation provides a quick overview of the SCANNECT technology, gives an insight into the details of the existing use cases, and summarises trends and developments for the foreseeable future.

Today, businesses are challenged to improve quality and performance while reducing costs in a very competitive landscape. Technology is making it possible for tire manufacturers to gather enormous amounts of information from across an expanding number of sources, but many struggle to analyse that data and make informed decisions. Putting context to information collected is key to identifying where there are opportunities to further improve metrics. Learn how leaders in the tire industry are utilising technology to manage their workforce, and discover the potential to reduce downtime and mitigate risk – by delivering actionable information to the appropriate person.

The tire industry goes through cycles of change every few decades and we are currently undergoing one of these generational changes. The paper attempts to identify the key changes in the industry in terms of technology, geography, customer expectations, business models and other dimensions. It also offers a personal view on which companies are winning and which are losing the race to adapt to the fast-changing environment.

In the tire industry, energy efficiency, safety and eco-friendly materials have attracted increasing attention. TSRC has recently modified and upgraded its manufacturing process for co-BR. As a result, a harmful solvent was eliminated. Also, the cis content increased dramatically (to 98.5%) so that Taipol 0150L could possibly compete with certain kinds of Nd-BR on tensile strength, abrasion and rebound. Furthermore, to better balance the processability and physical properties, Taipol 0150L was optimised on molecular weight distribution, which brings more value to the application of tire compounds.

For more than 25 years, tire companies have been interested in using epoxidised natural rubber (ENR) as a sustainable alternative to synthetic rubbers. Furthermore, ENR has the potential to directly link to silica as a filler, reducing the costly coupling agents. However, these concepts have mostly failed because physical and tire properties could not yet meet the performance of NR or synthetic rubber compounds. Behn Meyer introduces surface-modified fillers that show the potential to dramatically improve ENR compound performance and offer a new set of tools to change properties in the desired direction.

NR mastication is a very important process to bring NR to a constant level of viscosity. The level of viscosity is normally evaluated by Mooney values. But with RPA technology it is possible to describe the mastication process in much more detail. In this presentation, different types of NR mastication with and without peptisers are prepared and tested with RPA to characterise molecular weight, molecular weight distribution and long chain branching. Furthermore, different compounds with this different level of NR mastication are produced to evaluate the influence on the dynamic properties of the cured compounds.

Recent demands for the tread of tires include improved fuel efficiency to reduce CO2 emission, and improved wear resistance to increase lifetime. The introduction of functional groups into the end of the polymer is a novel solution to improve fuel efficiency. Strong interaction between functional groups and silica surface can reduce the hysteresis loss of rubber compound. To improve wear resistance, an effective approach is to increase polymer molecular weight, which provides a well-entangled polymer network. However, functionalised SSBR with high molecular weight increases compound viscosity. JSR suggests a solution.

Tire manufacturers are facing stiff challenges to meet today’s requirements for different performance properties of passenger car tires. One of these requirements is a high level of traction – wet and/or dry – as the service condition of a specific tire demands. The major obstacle to attaining these requirements by modulating the tread compound formulation comes from the fact that conventional avenues of increasing traction may lead to a significant increase in the rolling resistance of the tires, which is not desirable. This presentation deals with a study of some performance resins to examine the improvement in traction characteristics.

For years, silane coupling agents have been the most effective enabler for the adoption of silica technology for the development of rubber compounds for tire application. Different new silanes have been brought to market during the last few years, not only to improve the processability and performance properties of silica-based tire compounds but also to cater to the requirement to restrict environmental pollution, which will lead to more ‘green technology’. A comparative study of different silane coupling agents is presented here to explain the comparative advantages and disadvantages of these in silica-based passenger tire tread compounds.