Magic Triangle Research Articles

The magic triangle: growth, profitability and safety in the insurance industry

The magic triangle: growth, profitability and safety in the insurance industry

Synergistic Effect by Polyethylene Glycol as Interfacial Modifier in Silane-Modified Silica-Reinforced Composites.

The viscoelastic behavior and reinforcement mechanism of polyethylene glycol (PEG) as an interfacial modifier in green tire tread composites were investigated in this study. The results show a clear positive effect on overall performance, and it significantly improved all the parameters of the “magic triangle” properties, the abrasion resistance, wet grip and ice traction, as well as the tire rolling resistance, simultaneously. For the preparation of the compounds, two mixing steps were used, as PEG 4000 was added on the second stage in order to avoid the competing reaction between silica/PEG and silanization. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed that PEG could cover the silanol groups on the silica surface, resulting in the shortening of cure times and facilitating an increase of productivity. At low content of PEG, the strength was enhanced by the improvement of silica dispersion and the slippage of PEG chains, which are chemically and physically adsorbed on silica surface, but the use of excess PEG uncombined with silica in the compound, i.e., 5 phr, increases the possibility to shield the disulfide bonds of bis(3-(triethoxysilyl)-propyl) tetrasulfide (TESPT), and, thus, the properties were deteriorated. A constrained polymer model was proposed to explain the constrained chains of PEG in the silica-loaded composites on the basis of these results. An optimum PEG content is necessary for moderately strong matrix–filler interaction and, hence, for the enhancement in the mechanical properties.

Innovations in healthcare of peripheral regions – Greifswald as incubator for the Baltic Sea region?

Health care systems are called to reconcile at least three conflicting goals: They have to provide sufficient health care services of appropriate quality for the population, keep the cost at an affordable level, and make services accessible for every member of the society. Achieving all three of these goals at the same time is sometime like squaring the circle: Good ser- vices accessibly for everybody even in peripheral regions require resources and generate costs which – too often – seem inappropriate for many politicians and members of the society. At the same time, high quality ser- vices are only affordable with centralised systems where the number of patients permits sufficient routine. However, this centralisation means that services are not available close of the places where people live, in particu- lar in rural areas. The only answer are innovations of health care provision which increase the efficiency of the system and make it possible to achieve all objectives at the same time. The district of Vorpommern-Greifswald has developed, adopted, and implemented innovations in the field of telemedicine, emergency services, drones, and cross-border health care, which have already proven relevant for the region. These innovations are ready to diffuse into other countries of the Baltic Sea region. At the same time, innovations from other countries could be fruitful innovations seedlings for the district in North-Eastern Germany. However, this would require overcoming a number of financial, cultural, and personal barriers in order to improve the health care situation even in peripheral regions. This paper discusses the “magic triangle” of cost, quality, and accessi- bility as the fundamental goal system of a health care system. Furthermore, it presents some insights into the innovations implemented in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald. Finally, it discusses a model of innovation adop- tion and potentials entering into an adoption and adaption process within the Baltic Sea region.

Бізнес-моделі інтернету речей

Бізнес-моделі інтернету речей

Ligand Incorporation into Protein Microcrystals for MicroED by On-Grid Soaking

A high throughout method for soaking ligands into protein microcrystals on TEM grids is presented. Every crystal on the grid is soaked simultaneously using only standard cryoelectron microscopy vitrification equipment. The method is demonstrated using proteinase K microcrystals soaked with the 5-amino-2,4,6-triodoisophthalic acid (I3C) magic triangle. A soaked microcrystal is milled to a thickness of approximately 200nm using a focused ion beam, and MicroED data are collected. A high-resolution structure of the protein with four ligands at high occupancy is determined. Both the number of ligands bound and their occupancy is higher using on-grid soaking of microcrystals compared with much larger crystals treated similarly and investigated by X-ray crystallography. These results indicate that on-grid soaking ligands into microcrystals results in efficient uptake of ligands into protein microcrystals.

Mastication Process of Natural Rubber/Butadiene Rubber Blending: Validation Method on Influence of Peptizer

AbstractThe performance of tire tread is measured by the combination of “magic triangle properties.” They are rolling resistance, traction, and wear. To obtain high quality of tire tread, good quality of rubber compound is necessary to be prepared. Natural rubber (NR) has a wide application especially in tire tread. Cured Butadiene Rubber (BR) impacts excellent abrasion resistance and low rolling resistance due to its low glass transition temperature (Tg). Mastication process is a very important step in compounding preparation. To obtain homogeneous compounding, mastication has to be prepared well. Recently, the effect of peptizer in the mastication process of natural rubber/butadiene rubber has been investigated by using Vestenamer, Aktiplast 8, and Rhenosin 145. To validate to method and formulation, the experiment is repeated three times to find out the type of peptizer that provide the highest compatibility to masticate natural rubber and butadiene rubber as well. The experimental design is done to collect the data and repeatability of each peptizer effect is analyzed by calculating the variance (ANOVA test). As expected, the addition of Vestenamer significantly increases the mechanical properties, and it has better repeatability than others. However, the value of tensile strength and tear strength are still lower than Aktiplast, but it has already fulfilled the requirement, 20 N/mm2 and 200 N, for tensile strength and tear strength, respectively. It is proved that Vestenamer can optimize the mastication process.

Az ipar 4.0 hatása az árakra és a vállalati árképzés gyakorlatára

The article discusses the effect of Industry 4.0 on prices and price settings. The main conclusion is that the elbowroom of price setting is growing. This development makes it possible, even obligate, for the organizations to rethink their pricing strategy and to introduce new, more sophisticated pricing technologies. This is even more relevant in those fields where disruptive innovations dominate the scene. The pricing policy is going to be the central element of the disruptor and disrupted companies’ business policies. The pricing policy is also influenced by the growing bargaining power of customers. Already today, consumers and organizational buyers access to plenty of information about the products, prices, costs, companies; and as a result of this their decision journey is going to change and become more sophisticated. Among these circumstances, companies have to find a subtle balance, which can make them successful in the magic triangle of the company, customers and competitors.

METHOD OF RISK MANAGEMENT OF STAKEHOLDERS OF WIND POWER PROJECTS

Effective management of wind power projects, which are now challenged by a dynamic turbulent environment, requires a continuous integrating activity. The goal of the latter is to maximize the return on integration of all stakeholders in such projects and balancing their opportunities and threats. Thus, the article covers latest research in and approaches to stakeholder management in project. The methods and mechanisms of stakeholder management of wind power projects are analyzed, the weaknesses of stakeholders are detected, major issues and factors influencing their management are identified as well. The study also reveals the loss-inducing features of the stakeholders of wind power projects. This model consists in the fact that in order to ensure effective stakeholder management in wind power projects, it is necessary to balance their risks: increase the opportunities for positive impact of participants and reduce the opportunity of threats, while maintaining the stable state of the system, within the three categories that correspond to the magic triangle of project management goals: duration, cost, quality that is possible by combining techniques of opportunity management (chance management) and threats (risk management). All stakeholders in wind power projects can be divided into three groups: threatening, harmonized and chance identified. There has been developed a method of risk management of stakeholders of wind power projects. It takes into account the possible states of the system of interaction of opportunities and threats of stakeholders in the balance of their risk balances, improves managerial decision-making by reducing high and medium-sized threats for threatening stakeholders.

Devulcanization Technologies for Recycling of Tire-Derived Rubber: A Review.

In general, composite materials are difficult to recycle. Tires belong to this class of materials. On top, one of their main constitutents, vulcanized rubber, is as elastomer, which cannot be remolten and hence is particularly challenging to put to a new use. Today, the main end-of-life routes of tires and other rubber products are landfilling, incineration in e.g., cement plants, and grinding to a fine powder, generating huge quantities and indicating a lack of sustainable recycling of this valuable material. True feedstock recycling is not feasible for complex mixtures such as tires, but devulcanization can be done to reactivate the cross-linked polymer for material recycling in novel rubber products. Devulcanization, i.e., the breaking up of sulfur bonds by chemical, thermophysical, or biological means, is a promising route that has been investigated for more than 50 years. This review article presents an update on the state-of-the art in rubber devulcanization. The article addresses established devulcanization technologies and novel processes described in the scientific and patent literatures. On the one hand, tires have become high-tech products, where the simultaneous improvement of wet traction, rolling resistance, and abrasion resistance (the so-called “magic triangle”) is hard to achieve. On the other hand, recycling and sustainable end-of-life uses are becoming more and more important. It is expected that the public discussion of environmental impacts of thermoplastics will soon spill over to thermosets and elastomers. Therefore, the industry needs to develop and market solutions proactively. Every year, approximately 40 million tons of tires are discarded. Through the devulcanization of end-of-life tires (ELT), it is possible to produce new raw materials with good mechanical properties and a superior environmental footprint over virgin products. The devulcanization process has become an interesting technology that is able to support the circular economy concept.

ELASTOMERIC NANOPARTICLES: EFFECTIVE ADDITIVE FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE RUBBER NANOCOMPOSITES

ABSTRACT The “magic triangle” is the most important challenge to rubber composites for the automobile industry. According to the magic triangle, it is difficult to improve the rolling resistance (energy saving), wet skid resistance (safety), and wear (life) of a tire simultaneously. However, ∼5% decrease of rolling resistance, >20% increase of wet skid resistance, and 15% decrease of wear were achieved after adding a small amount of elastomeric nanoparticle (ENP). The effect of ENP on the performances of rubber composites was expounded by characterization of the dispersion of filler and the relationship between filler and rubber. The main difference between ENPs and other nanoparticles was that ENPs acted as not only a part of filler but also as a part of rubber in rubber composites.

Solving “magic triangle” of tread rubber composites with phosphonium-modified petroleum resin

The wet traction, rolling resistance and abrasion resistance have rarely been improved simultaneously in tread rubbers, which is regarded as “magic triangle” in tire industry. Recently, we have demonstrated that phosphoniums are effective in lowering rolling resistance of tread via catalyzing the interfacial silanization. In addition, incorporating the C5/C9-based petroleum resin into tread formulation is a well-established technology toward high wet traction. Accordingly, we aim to solve the “magic triangle” dilemma by using phosphonium-modified petroleum resin (PSR), which is prepared through a two-step reaction. PSR is incorporated into the silica-filled styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) composites with bis [3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl] tetrasulfide (TESPT). Due to the electrostatic interaction between PSR and silica, the dispersion of silica is improved. Moreover, PSR exhibits catalytic effect on the interfacial silanization, leading to the improvement of interfacial interactions. With incorporation of 2 phr of PSR, the tan δ at 0 °C and abrasion loss of the rubber composite are increased by 19% and decreased by 28%, respectively, which suggests that the wet traction and abrasion resistance are increased. The tan δ at 60 °C of the rubber composite is decreased by 14%, indicating that the rolling resistance is decreased. In addition, the overall excellent “magic triangle” performance of a typical tread rubber is also demonstrated by incorporating PSR, indicating that PSR has great potential in practical applications. We envisage that this study provides a new solution for high-performance tread rubber for green tires.

Giving a Second Opportunity to Tire Waste: An Alternative Path for the Development of Sustainable Self-Healing Styrene-Butadiene Rubber Compounds Overcoming the Magic Triangle of Tires.

Current regulations demand tires with long lifetime and reduced fuel consumption without sacrificing car safety. However, tire technology still needs to reach a suitable balance between these three indicators. Here, we address them by developing a self-healing tire compound using styrene–butadiene rubber (SBR) as the matrix and reclaimed tire waste as the sustainable filler. The addition of ground tire rubber (GTR) to the matrix simultaneously improved the rolling resistance and maintained both wet grip and healing ability. We provide an in-depth analysis of the healing behavior of the material at a scale close to the relevant molecular processes through a systematic dynamic-mechanical and dielectric analysis. We found that SBR and SBR/GTR compounds show a complete recovery of stiffness and relaxation dynamics after being damaged by cyclic deformation, resulting in a heterogeneous repaired rubber network. This new development could well overcome the so-called magic triangle of tires, which is certainly one of the key objectives of the tire industry.

Combining random microseed matrix screening and the magic triangle for the efficient structure solution of a potential lysin from bacteriophage P68.

Two commonly encountered bottlenecks in the structure determination of a protein by X-ray crystallography are screening for conditions that give high-quality crystals and, in the case of novel structures, finding derivatization conditions for experimental phasing. In this study, the phasing molecule 5-amino-2,4,6-triiodoisophthalic acid (I3C) was added to a random microseed matrix screen to generate high-quality crystals derivatized with I3C in a single optimization experiment. I3C, often referred to as the magic triangle, contains an aromatic ring scaffold with three bound I atoms. This approach was applied to efficiently phase the structures of hen egg-white lysozyme and the N-terminal domain of the Orf11 protein from Staphylococcus phage P68 (Orf11 NTD) using SAD phasing. The structure of Orf11 NTD suggests that it may play a role as a virion-associated lysin or endolysin.

In-house high-energy-remote SAD phasing using the magic triangle: how to tackle the P1 low symmetry using multiple orientations of the same crystal of human IBA57 to increase the multiplicity.

This article describes the approach used to solve the structure of human IBA57 in-house by 5-amino-2,4,6-triiodoisophthalic acid (I3C) high-energy-remote single-wavelength anomalous dispersion (SAD) phasing. Multiple orientations of the same triclinic crystal were exploited to acquire sufficient real data multiplicity for phasing. How the collection of an in-house native data set and its joint use with the I3C derivative through a SIRAS approach decreases the data multiplicity needed by almost 50% is described. Furthermore, it is illustrated that there is a clear data-multiplicity threshold value for success and failure in phasing, and how adding further data does not significantly affect substructure solution and model building. To our knowledge, this is the only structure present in the PDB that has been solved in-house by remote SAD phasing in space group P1 using only one crystal. All of the raw data used, derived from the different orientations, have been uploaded to Zenodo in order to enable software developers to improve methods for data processing and structure solution, and for educational purposes.

Model-based treatment in surgery

The "magic triangle" in surgery and other disciplines consists of the demand for increasingly gentler forms of treatment, simultaneous cost reduction and the fundamental primacy of improving the quality of results. The digitalization of medicine offers apromising opportunity to do justice to this, also in the sense of "Surgery4.0". The aim is to create acognitive, collaborative diagnostics and treatment environment to support the surgeon. In the sense of a"theory building" for analysis and planning, process modeling is the cornerstone for modern treatment planning. The main distinction is made between the patient model and the treatment model. The course of the actual surgical treatment can also be modeled: in principle it is possible to describe the course of an operation in such fine detail that the surgical procedure can be mapped and reproduced down to each single step, such as a single implementation of forceps. Basically, this has already been achieved. So-called neural networks also open up completely new forms of knowledge acquisition, machine learning and flexible reaction to nearly all conceivable possibilities in highly complex processes. "Digitalization" is anecessary development in surgery. It offers not only countless possibilities to support the surgeon in the field of activity but also the chance of more precise data acquisition with respect to academic surgery. Modeling is an indispensable part of this and must be rigorously implemented and further developed.

Crowd Engineering – Approach for Smart and Agile Product Development in Networks

Product life cycles are getting shorter. Companies are working to shorten development of new products and ramp-up of production. Based on increased customization, the production volume is reduced, too. In view of the magic triangle of production optimization, companies are forced to reduce (1) costs and (2) time while ensuring consistent (3) quality.The introduction of Crowd Engineering can support companies in their task of improving their product development approaches. By integrating professionals as well as nonprofessionals in the product development processes, well-designed products with reduced utilization of human resources are possible. The current research shows major requirements and challenges, which need to be addressed: Whom does the crowd to be addressed consist of? How can development tasks be outsourced to the crowd and how can the results be reintegrated into internal processes of the company? Which areas can be co-worked by the crowd? Companies must identify their core issues in engineering in order to manage efforts sensibly. With the definition of tasks for the community, it is required to identify appropriate interfaces to provide space for open innovation through the crowd. The tasks should focus on areas without relevance for competition, thus avoiding making intellectual property rights publicly available. In this paper, the current research on distributed development processes and crowds shall be presented. Application formats enabling Crowd Engineering and arising challenges are presented. Additionally, the motivation of companies is discussed.

Novel Design of Eco-Friendly Super Elastomer Materials With Optimized Hard Segments Micro-Structure: Toward Next-Generation High-Performance Tires.

Recently, sustainable development has become a significant concern globally, and the energy crisis is one of the top priorities. From the perspective of the industrial application of polymeric materials, rubber tires are critically important in our daily lives. However, the energy consumption of tires can reach 6% of the world's total energy consumption per annum. Meanwhile, it is calculated that around 5% of carbon dioxide comes from the emission of tire rolling due to energy consumption. To overcome these severe energy and environmental challenges, designing and developing a high-performance fuel-saving tire is of paramount significance. Herein, a next-generation, eco-friendly super elastomer material based on macromolecular assembly technology has been fabricated. Hydroxyl-terminated solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (HTSSBR) with high vinyl contents prepared by anionic polymerization is used as flexible soft segments to obtain excellent wet skid resistance. Furthermore, highly symmetrical 1,5-naphthalene diisocyanate (NDI), different proportions of chain extender, and the cross-linking agent with moderate molecular length are selected as rigid hard segments to achieve simultaneous high heat resistance. Through this approach, a homogeneous network supported by uniformly distributed hard segment nanoparticles is formed because soft segments with equal length are chemically end-linked by the hard segments. This super elastomer material exhibits excellent wear resistance and low rolling resistance. More importantly, the wear resistance, rolling resistance, and wet-skid resistance are reduced by 85.4, 42.3, and 20.8%, respectively, compared to the elastomeric material conventionally used for tire. By taking advantage of this excellent comprehensive service performance, the long-standing challenge of the “magic triangle” plaguing the rubber tire industry for almost 100 years is resolved. It is anticipated that this newly designed and fabricated elastomeric material tailored for tires will become the next generation product, which could exhibit high potential for significantly cutting the fuel consumption and reducing the emission of carbon dioxide.

Rational design of advanced elastomer nanocomposites towards extremely energy-saving tires based on macromolecular assembly strategy

Energy use due to automobile tires accounts for more than 6% of the world's total energy consumption and ~5% of all carbon dioxide emissions. We designed and fabricated a next-generation, energy-saving advanced elastomer (AE) based on a macromolecular assembly strategy. This AE delicately balances rolling resistance, wear resistance and wet-skid resistance, addressing the so-called “magic triangle” that has plagued the tire industry for more than century. This AE crosslinks anionically synthesized hydroxyl-terminated solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene copolymers with highly symmetric isocyanates and polyols to generate a uniform network by macromolecular self-assembly. Remarkably, compared with those of widely commercialized elastomer nanocomposites tailored for “green tires”, the wear resistance, rolling resistance and wet-skid resistance of this AE are improved by 94.6%, 69.8% and 13.8%, respectively. This AE affords a new opportunity for the large-scale application of next-generation high-performance automobile tires that will, in part, resolve a serious global energy and environmental crisis.

Effect of the structural characteristics of solution styrene–butadiene rubber on the properties of rubber composites

ABSTRACTSolution‐polymerized styrene–butadiene rubber (SSBR) has been widely used in the high‐quality tire industry, and various brands of SSBR have been synthesized. Five kinds of SSBR were selected from multiple products to investigate the effects of different brands of SSBR on the comprehensive properties. Different characterization tools, such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, 1H‐NMR, and differential scanning calorimetry, were used to characterize the microstructures of the SSBRs. The results show that the microstructures of the SSBRs distinctly affected the comprehensive properties of the SSBR composites, especially the properties of the “magic triangle.” For instance, the content of trans‐1,4‐butadiene positively corresponded to the Akron abrasion for the SSBR composites with different brands, and cis‐1,4‐butadiene could partly replace the influence of vinyl when the content of trans‐1,4‐butadiene was small. SSBR 2564S, SSBR 4526‐2, and SSBR 2535E were selected because of the excellent magic‐triangle properties. They were used to investigate the effects of different brands of SSBR with different ratios of natural rubber (NR) to SSBR on the comprehensive properties of the NR–SSBR rubber blend composites. The results indicate that the properties of magic triangle were distinctly enhanced. However, there was an optimized content of SSBR to enhance the wear resistance (≤15 phr). For SSBR 4526‐2, the Payne effect was negatively correlated to the content of SSBR, whereas for SSBR 2564S and SSBR 2535E, the Payne effect was positively correlated to the content of SSBR. On the basis of these results, the SSBR 2564S seemed to exhibit the best comprehensive properties to prepare a tire tread tailored for high‐performance tires. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 45749.

Exploring a highly dispersible silica–elastomer composite for tire applications

ABSTRACTIn this article, we provide an extensive analyses of various properties that are required for tire tread based on developed highly dispersible (HD) silica‐filled epoxidized natural rubber composites. Silica in an HD form has become a staple filler in tire tread applications because of its inherent advantages. In this study, epoxidized natural rubber with 25 mol % epoxide (ENR 25) and natural rubber were mixed with two different types of HD silica for superior reinforcement. A standard tire tread formulation was used as the base compound. The magic triangle properties were conspicuously influenced by the viscoelastic characteristics of the vulcanizates. The introduction of polar rubber (ENR 25) into the HD silica greatly improved rheological, physicomechanical, bound rubber content, and dynamic mechanical properties, and this led to a better, fuel‐efficient tire. We successfully achieved this, even in the absence of a silane coupling agent. ENR 25 played an imperative role in showing an extraordinary rubber–filler interactions and was primarily responsible for these observations. In this study, we explored the HD silica dispersion with transmission electron microscopy observations. Morphological studies revealed well‐dispersed HD silica with the formation of a rubber–filler network. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43531.