Sumitomo to tap ‘award-wining’ simulation technology for new rubber products

Tokyo – Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) is planning to use its large-scale molecular dynamics simulation technology for tire rubber materials for the development of new products, the company has announced.

In development since 2012, the technology clarifies the effect of the bonding method between silica added to the rubber material and the coupling agent on the strength of the rubber material, Sumitomo said in a 16 Sept release.

The project uses data processing power offered by supercomputer “K computer”, which is based on the high-performance computing infrastructure (HPCI) platform, and has received the HPCI’s “excellent achievement award for utilisation research projects.” 

As a result of the project, Sumitomo said it was able to improve wear resistance of rubber. 

“In the future, we will utilise the results of this simulation in the development of new rubber materials and products,” the company said.

In addition, in order to develop tires with higher safety and reduced environmental impact, Sumitomo said that it was looking to use the supercomputer "Tomitake," which will succeed the "K computer" in 2021. 

HPCI is a shared computational environment which connects major supercomputers as well as storages of universities and research institutions in Japan via high speed networks. 

SRI’s "large-scale molecular dynamics simulation of rubber materials for tires” project has won the 7th HPCI top honour for utilisation research projects. The awards will be announced in an online ceremony 29 Oct.