Cabot to expand elastomer composites business for OTR tires

Boston, Massachusetts – Cabot Corp. is making a “strategic investment” to expand its manufacturing capabilities for elastomer composites at its plant in Port Dickson, Malaysia, the company announced 1 March.

The carbon black manufacturer said it will also create “a dedicated elastomer composites team” responsible for developing new products and driving growth for the product line.

The focus of the new team, said Cabot, will be off-the-road tire, rubber track and mining applications.

Cabot’s elastomer composites are made primarily of natural rubber and reinforcing materials such as carbon black.

According to Cabot, the mixing process of the products gives them “a superior level of carbon black dispersion and creates materials that are structurally different from compounds produced by conventional methods.”

The company said that the elastomer composites can offer improved rubber properties that are important for off-the-road applications such as energy loss (hysteresis) and resistance to abrasion, cutting or chipping.

The composites have been shown to double the fatigue life of rubber parts, Cabot added.

The company has been producing elastomer composites at the Malaysia plant for the past 10 years “under an exclusive customer agreement”, said Cabot president and chief executive officer Sean Keohane.

This expansion, he added, is the next phase of growth to support a new set of customers.