Silica masterbatch technology an industry first, says Cooper

In February, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company and Mexican firm Industrias Negromex S.A. de C.V. (INSA) jointly earned a US patent (8,357,733) for a process to produce silane, hydrophobated silica, silica masterbatch and rubber products. Building on this announcement, on 7 June the two companies reported achieving a further significant milestone. They have successfully evaluated silica masterbatch technology in full-scale production facilities and demonstrated that tyres produced with silica masterbatch technology offer a range of benefits compared with tyres produced using conventional dry silica mixing technology.

“This is a first for the tyre industry,” said Chuck Yurkovich, Cooper Tire’s vice-president, Global Research and Development. “It’s one thing to patent an industry-leading silica masterbatch process, but quite another to successfully use it in manufacturing and evaluate this new technology in tyres. By accomplishing this, Cooper Tire and INSA have demonstrated significant processing advantages in our plants – including improvements in mixing efficiencies through considerable reduction in cycle times over conventional dry mixed silica –and we’ve been able to verify all aspects of tyre performance.”

“It is exciting that Cooper Tire was able to demonstrate strong tyre performance and value with this technology,” said INSA general director Felipe Varela Hernandez. “We are also equally excited to have established a viable silica masterbatch manufacturing process in our Altamira production plant. The joint development by our two companies over several years has been a key driver to confirm the future commercialisation potential of this technology.”

The silica masterbatch required for these tyre evaluations was produced in a full-scale production demonstration line at the INSA plant in Altamira, Mexico. The silica masterbatch from this manufacturing process was used to complete multiple tire evaluations by Cooper Tire. Tire testing consisted of all aspects of tyre performance including traction and handling, tread wear, all-season capability and rolling resistance.