The Tire and Specialty Rubbers (TSR) business unit of specialty chemicals company Lanxess will showcase its latest developments for the tire industry at the Tire Technology Expo in Hanover from February 16 to 18.
The focal point of this year’s talks will be the opportunities and possible improvements resulting from functionalized tire rubber such as S-SBR and NdBR. LANXESS expert Thomas Ruenzi will also give a detailed presentation on this topic. A further presentation by LANXESS process specialist Saeid Kheirandish will look at the compound properties of NdBR rubber, which play a particularly important role in the production of high-performance tires.
Functionalized rubber – new approaches, initial results
Following Lanxess’ market launch of functionalized S-SBR rubber grades under the name Buna FX, a number of new variants are currently being tested. This is the subject of a further Lanxess contribution to the Tire Technology Expo’s conference program – “In-chain and chain-end functionalized S-SBR and NdBRs for green tire applications” – by product developer Ruenzi, which expressly moves beyond chain-end functionalized rubber to also include variants with functional groups that are distributed along the polymer chain.
By their very nature, the density of potential anchor points in these rubber grades is higher than in the standard chain-end functionalized variants. In a complex study, Lanxess chemists ascertained the properties silica compounds obtain from the new, differently functionalized S-SBR rubber – including in various combinations. Ruenzi will also be describing initial tests on the company’s multi-functionalized NdBR rubber.
The second LANXESS presentation, by experienced rubber expert Kheirandish, demonstrates that TSR’s support for processors extends beyond the further development of raw materials to also include process optimization. Kheirandish reports on his investigations into the compound properties of the NdBR grades Buna CB22 and Buna Nd22EZ – paying special attention to the development of the compound’s Mooney viscosity during processing.
“Current innovations relate above all to applications and process developments. This presentation shows what LANXESS has to offer besides high-performance polymers,” says Hardy. “Our outstanding expertise benefits the tire sector in particular, which makes me confident that – as in previous years – we’ll come up with a whole host of new approaches in 2016 that will be just what the industry is looking for. I’m also looking forward to the feedback we’ll be getting during the specialist discussions at the expo.”