Zhongce link-ups to advance tire rubber technology

Yantai, China – Chinese tire maker Zhongce Rubber has signed a contract with two Chinese partners to advance joint research into dynamically vulcanised alloy (DVA) used in passenger car barrier layers and bicycle tire inner liners.

The partners are Shenzhen-listed thermoplastic elastomer maker Dawn Polymer and Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT).

Dawn Polymer will supply DVA material to Zhongce for application testing and BUCT will assist in formula design and upgrade.

According to a November announcement by Dawn Polymer, the passenger car tire project aims to deliver at least 5% fuel saving with equivalent or better mechanical performance than Zhongce’s current products.

Barrier layers using DVA can reduce its thickness from 1.0-1.5mm to 0.2-0.3mm compared with traditional materials, significantly lowering the weight and help bring down rolling resistance, said the announcement.

DVA layers can also raise air tightness by seven to ten fold and prolong durability, the announcement added.

The other project aims to make bicycle inner liners with DVA instead of bromobutyl rubber.

The current manufacturing practice using bromobutyl rubber is labour-intensive and has high energy consumption and high rejection rate, said the announcement.

The parties hope to reach the project goals by June 2020.