Conti, Kordsa to develop ‘green’ tire-cord adhesives

Hanover, Germany – Continental’s Tire division and Kordsa aim to jointly “establish” a new resorcinol- and formaldehyde-free adhesion system for textile reinforcement materials, the companies announced 15 Aug

The two companies claim progress in developing more ‘eco-friendly’ alternatives to resorcinol- and formaldehyde-based systems for bonding textile reinforcing materials to rubber compounds.

Conti said that it plans applications for the fibre-adhesion product across all segments of its own tire production, and that free licensing was envisaged for tire and supplier industries.

Test results obtained by the partners to date are “very promising both in the laboratory and in test tires,” added Mergell. “We are, therefore, planning the progressive introduction of this technology in the production of our tires across all segments which is a further substantial step toward greater sustainability.”

According to the Conti expert, many suppliers are currently working on solutions of their own and the complexity of the approvals process alone for all of the unique solutions could soon become excessive.

“That’s why our approach in this collaboration is to make the technology accessible to other suppliers and competitors, thereby laying the foundation for a new adhesion system standard,” Mergell added.

“Reviewing our massive investments into research in this field and the results obtained, we are absolutely convinced that, in collaboration with Continental, we can make the new technology ready for becoming the new industrial adhesion system standard for textile reinforcing materials”, said the Kordsa executive concluded.