環境・衛生関連 タイヤにおける環境対応型新材料技術

Abstract

Environment protection is and will be the most important aspect of the tire development. A study of tire's life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted under Japan Rubber Manufacturers Association, and revealed that the usage stage accounts for more than 85% of total CO2 emission in an entire life cycle of a common tire. From this standpoint, reduction of rolling resistance (RR) is the most important requirement, followed by extension of service life, which contributes to all other stages. Following the development of silica-filled tread compound, further reduction of hysteresis loss had been achieved by development of new materials for silica system, such as dispersion additive and novel modified polymers. In addition, recent implementation of non-linear viscoelastic properties in the Finite Element Analysis has greatly improved the precision of tire RR prediction. This will allow efficient application of low hysteresis materials in tire design.