On-Road Tests Confirm Viability of Magnum SRI Compound, Manufacturer Reports

Road testing of tyres made from a compound containing a sizeable recycled content has reportedly shown them to “clearly equal the original control specimen.” Magnum D'Or Resources states its Magnum SRI custom compound light truck tyres were driven to the Malaysian Rubber Board's Rubber Research Institute, where further testing is to take place. The tyres contain a 14 per cent recycled content, which Magnum notes is nearly six hundred per cent more than the current amount of surface treated crumb used in tyres.

“The performance specifications achieved thus far by the Magnum SRI custom compound tyres clearly equal the original control specimen and is being treated as an OEM tyre and tested with the same procedure(s),” comments Magnum D’Or Resources in a press statement. “Substantial recycled content was incorporated into a premium production tyre for the very first time without any loss in properties while affording a reduction in raw material cost in-between six per cent to eight per cent to the manufacturer.”

The two Magnum SRI Tyres and two control tyres were marked and measured prior to the truck being driven off on its maiden 800 kilometre round trip journey. The vehicle used was equipped with a black box containing monitoring hardware and tracking systems to check all aspects of its operating conditions; the data gained will be included as part of the evaluation. This evaluation, says Magnum, will prove to be the “crown jewel of the Magnum SRI venture,” as the results documented will show the tyres’ performance to exceed all expectations. It will, the manufacturer continues, re-write the rules “about what can and cannot be done in the recycling industry.”

The Magnum SRI test tyre uses a composite compound identical to that used in the control tyre, save for the 20 per cent Magnum SRI custom compound (containing 14 per cent recycled rubber content) included in the mix. This means, explains Magnum, that the tread compound has 14 per cent recycled content and the tyre’s sidewall a slightly higher recycled content. The addition of modified virgin compound modified to the activated compound will lift the final custom compound proportion to 20 per cent.

“What we have here is nothing less than the solution to the global tyre and rubber scrap problem; it will address not only the annual accumulation but the backlog in the landfills,” states SRI CEO Gopi Sekhar. “The introduction of the Magnum SRI custom compound as an industrial raw material, effectively means cost effective value added consumption which will make it irresistible as a Green raw material. Not only will it appreciably reduce the raw material cost of the manufacturer but it will potentially reduce cost for final consumers. We believe that this is the future of global rubber recycling.”

The manufacturer points out that, prior to the development of the Magnum SRI compound, no tyre containing more than a very small percentage of recycled content has ever been successfully introduced. “Before this innovation exceeding two plus per cent recycled content in a tyre compound always meant what is referred to in the industry as ‘catastrophic failure’,” explains Magnum D’Or Resources. “History has been rewritten, the Magnum SRI custom compound has been able to incorporate more than 14 per cent recycled content in both the tread and sidewall compounds of a light truck tyre and actually had it provide performance parameters equal to and higher than the original compound…Magnum SRI is currently unmatched, having broken new technological ground in recycling whose impact and significance will be effect the entire rubber industry.”