US-based SMX (Security Matters) says that it is continuing its collaboration with German tech firm Continental, enabling automotive companies the ability to identify and verify ethical sourcing of natural rubber and to demonstrate a higher level of responsibility and certification of premium natural rubber products, which SMX believes can enable a smarter rubber sorting and recycling capability.
In a recent trial at ContiTech, one of Continental’s group sectors in Hanover, Germany, the teams were able to 100% identify (through blind tests) the ‘marked’ and ‘unmarked’ natural rubber in engine mounts supplied by Continental for a global automotive company without affecting the material properties and the product performance.
Further, SMX believes that this trial demonstrates SMX’s technology as a proven enabler to overcome the ‘First Mile Challenge’1 while ensuring the certification and verification of ethical sourcing of natural rubber from tree plantation to final product.
Results from the trial include:
· SMX succeeded in integrating its technology within engine mounts utilising ‘marked’ natural rubber supplied by Continental without affecting the manufacturing process, the quality and the material properties of the car component.
· SMX’s marking system was successfully detected in all prototypes manufactured with ‘marked’ natural rubber, demonstrating the durability and the traceability of the SMX marking system throughout the production process.
· Using SMX’s reader, the unique technology provided a non-destructive way of tracing the ‘marked’ natural rubber within the engine mounts throughout the production process.
· SMX says its technology provides the ability to differentiate and identify ‘marked’ car components utilising marked natural rubber from unmarked car components, thus enabling authentication of material originating from ethical sourcing within a final product and through recycling and reuse.
The trial successfully embedded SMX’s marking system in the natural rubber supplied by Continental, into an engine mount, providing origin authentication of the sustainable raw material and demonstrating its durability, full traceability and repeatability through the production process from raw material to final product and recycle and reuse.