Tyres can’t function without this critical raw material. Whether its natural or synthetic rubber you are interested in, articles bearing this tag feature this indispensable polymer.
Several tyre makers have expressed their interest utilising natural rubber sourced from guayule and Russian dandelions, but Apollo Vredestein has announced it has actually produced tyres containing such materials. The company says the first tyres manufactured with European natural rubber rolled off its production belt this week.
Half a year after its public unveiling at Intermat 2012, Michelin’s all-new XADN+ articulated dump truck tyre has been launched. The tyre is initially available in the popular size 29.5R25 and is suitable for groundwork, infrastructure construction, quarry and mine applications. The XADN+ range will replace the current XADN line-up, which was launched in 1996.
A strong recent focus at Bridgestone, as at several other tyre makers, has been on researching alternatives to natural rubber sourced from the Hevea brasiliensis tree. At the same time, the tyre maker has also investigated the optimisation of Hevea brasiliensis productivity, and as part of this basic research into molecular breeding – breeding using genetic information – Bridgestone has successfully decoded the main genome sequence for Hevea brasiliensis.
While some in the tyre industry are rethinking the way they categorise and sell tyres following the introduction of labelling into the market, others have decided the clearest communication comes when the rubber hits the road. Perhaps that’s why Tyremen’s Hull depot has repainted the lines on its customer car park with a distinct labelling theme. Before they were simply a collection of parking bays, now Tyremen have transformed them into an illustration of how labelling works, with bays labelled from A – G and marked “wet grip.”
The British Grand Prix took place in dry weather against all the odds, though drenched practice and qualifying sessions – not to mention waterlogged car parks – made choosing a definitive tyre strategy impossible, since little information was available to teams about how their cars would use the available rubber. Red Bull’s tactics prevailed, with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel both achieving podium finishes, sandwiching Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who held onto his lead of the Drivers Championship with a second place earned only after an intense battle for supremacy with Webber. Webber is the second driver, after Alonso, to reach two Grand Prix victories this season.
If work being carried out by Professor Takashi Ohira and his team at Toyohashi University of Technology can be successfully applied to the real world, the day may come when we drive electric cars powered by current flowing through their tyres. The Toyohashi team is working on a project known as EVER, or Electric Vehicle on Electrified Roadway, and it says the technology being developed applies the same basic concept used on suburban electric railways for more than a century. On 5 July the Ohira and the Toyohashi team demonstrated its prototype technology at the WTP2012 trade show in Yokohama.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber has expressed its approval of the legislation approved by the United States Congress and signed by Barack Obama on 6 July, not least because it should save the company some US$375 million over the next five years. The savings are related to pensions – a sensitive topic for many Goodyear employees following the significant changes made to the tyre maker’s pension plan in recent years, yet the company states the legislation will offset historically low interest rates and enable companies to invest in business growth and creating jobs.
At Reifen 2012, the Alliance Tire Group presented a new off-road tyre it says represents an innovative approach to dual-tyre configuration for excavators. Called the 528 Dual Master, the new product solves the problem of stones becoming embedded between double tyres. It does this through the use of a unique sidewall construction that enables close contact between the two tyres. “There is normally a rubber spacer between the tyres, but stones nevertheless get between the tyres and cause punctures,” explained ATG marketing communications manager Tal Rappoport to Tyres & Accessories. “The 528 Dual Master is the first tyre model for excavators that doesn’t require this spacer, and stones therefore can’t get penetrate this space.
Trayal may have sold its passenger car tyre operations and one of its two factories in Kruševac to Cooper Tire & Rubber, but it nevertheless appears to be making a comeback into the segment. Bloomberg reports that the Serbian company has entered into a cooperative agreement with Belarus-based Belshina JSC, and that under the terms of the agreement Trayal brand passenger car tyres will be produced using Trayal-sourced technology at Belshina’s Bobruisk plant. In addition, Belshina brand industrial tyres will be produced at Trayal’s heavy tyre factory in Kruševac. The tyres will mainly be sold on the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarus markets, Bloomberg writes.
Pirelli’s supply to Formula One this year has not been without the occasional controversy – Michael Schumacher’s “raw eggs” comment being just one example – but there is no arguing that it’s raised the profile of tyres within the sport. Evidence of their prominent role was seen today by those thumbing through The Sun, who would have read the headline that the “real F1 heroes are…tyre boffins.”
Materials company Styron reports that its R&D/TS&D Rubber Team has developed functionalised Solution Styrene Butadiene Rubber in response to the European tyre label, and the team is “continuously working” to introduce new grades that will deliver even better performance. “Let's give you one example which speaks by itself to demonstrate how powerful the technology is," commented Styron sales and marketing manager Olivier Véron. “With the introduction of Styron's generation two SSBR 4602, compared with our generation one SSBR 4601 for the rolling resistance we can move from the rating C to B, while maintaining all the other properties identical like the grip and the handling."
According to Lyssa da Costa, manager of marketing at Hercules Tire’s Canada and international divisions, Reifen 2012 was a “busy, productive show” for the wholesaler. At the exhibition, the company displayed a wide range of its products, including three recently launched winter tyres in the Hercules and Ironman ranges.
All eight of Cooper Tire & Rubber’s global manufacturing facilities are producing to ISO 9001:2008 standard following the certification of the company’s subsidiary in Kruševac, Serbia. Certification of the former Trayal plant, which officially came into Cooper hands on 17 January, was described by Kruševac plant manager Peter Salmon as marking “another step in making Serbia a globally competitive manufacturing facility.”
Tests on the 17-inch tyres to be used in next year’s World Superbike Championship have yielded lap time improvements of up to 1.5 seconds. During yesterday’s joint Infront and Pirelli organised exercise, riders from eight teams tested the new, larger rubber at the Aragòn circuit in Spain; based on the feedback received, Pirelli will develop the new tyre in the standard SC1 compound and a range of further compounds. As of next year the tyres will also be marketed and made available to customers.
India-based Speedways Rubber Company decided to enter the radial agricultural tyre segment with the addition of new manufacturing equipment a couple of years ago. The upgraded part of the production operation is now said to be running smoothly ahead of reaching full capacity in the first quarter of 2013. With new manufacturing equipment, increased output and larger products in hand, company representatives are now further developing their plans for where to sell these tyres. And the business’ recent appearance at Reifen 2012 in Essen demonstrates the firm’s clear international perspective.
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