Description:
The innerliner is one of the most important components in a tire. This is due to the fact the innerliner must ensure tire inflation pressure retention. Loss on of inflation pressure will cause a decrease in tire durability due to excessive casing flexing as it rotates under load, increased vehicle fuel consumption due to increased rolling resistance, and loss of traction and wear performance. And this is even more important with the new generation of electric vehicles. The innerliner is based in halobutyl rubber. Bromobutyl has become the preferred polymer due to the better innerliner to tire ply compound adhesion. All of the new global butyl rubber production over the last ten years has been for bromobutyl for this reason. Butyl based compounds are difficult to process due to the need to isolate and prevent contamination of other tire compounds. Manufacturing operations are therefore designed for this purpose. However halobutyl compounds are relatively easy to process, they only require 2-stage mixing processes, extruder easily and when plied up with a barrier before tire building, handle well in manufacturing. This discussion will overview butyl and halobutyl rubbers, compounding, and impact on tire performance

Live Webinar Held: 07 July 2021 (Wednesday)

Speaker:
Brendan Rodgers, based in Austin Texas, has spent 42 years working in the tire and rubber industry with both The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and ExxonMobil. He has worked on a broad range of tire and industrial rubber products including hydraulic hose and conveyor belts, materials technology, and product design. He has had work assignments here in the United States, China, Ireland, Italy, and Luxembourg, working on original equipment automobile tires, truck tires, industrial rubber products, and new tire materials technologies. He is the originator of a broad range of patents in tire and rubber technology and many industry publications including editor of the text, Rubber Compounding, Chemistry and Applications, and the text, Tire Engineering, both published by CRC Press. Brendan has a PhD in chemical engineering from The Queen’s University of Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he studied thermodynamics, heat transfer through large rubber sections, and vulcanization kinetics. He has a Master's degree in Polymer Technology also from The Queen’s University, and a BSc in Biological Chemistry from The University of Ulster.

Description:
Natural rubber is among the most important elastomers used in the manufacturing of products such as tires and conveyor belts. The polymer imparts many unique properties such as high tensile strength, tear strength, and resilience. This review will discuss natural rubber beginning with its biosynthesis, through to production, classification, and fundamental properties. Natural Rubber is obtained by tapping the side of the tree, Hevae brasiliensis. It is then processed and classified according to the quality and form under which it is shipped. Natural rubber is the preferred polymer in tire applications were high tear strength, tensile strength, and low hysteretic properties are required. It is used in wire coat or skim compounds, the shoulder wedge, and bead filler, and in tread compounds for winter passenger, medium truck and off-the-road tires. In many tire applications natural rubber is blended with other elastomers to achieve a required balance of properties. Sidewalls are typically blends of natural rubber and polybutadiene. Innerliner compounds, which are discussed in depth, can contain natural rubber in low amounts when blended with either chlorobutyl or bromobutyl rubber to achieve a balance of high impermeability, good adhesion, excellent flex-fatigue resistance, and good durability. The review will also cover natural rubber grader selection by application, interchangeability of grades and quality.

Live Webinar Held: 28 July 2021 (Wednesday)

Speaker:
Brendan Rodgers, based in Austin Texas, has spent 42 years working in the tire and rubber industry with both The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and ExxonMobil. He has worked on a broad range of tire and industrial rubber products including hydraulic hose and conveyor belts, materials technology, and product design. He has had work assignments here in the United States, China, Ireland, Italy, and Luxembourg, working on original equipment automobile tires, truck tires, industrial rubber products, and new tire materials technologies. He is the originator of a broad range of patents in tire and rubber technology and many industry publications including editor of the text, Rubber Compounding, Chemistry and Applications, and the text, Tire Engineering, both published by CRC Press. Brendan has a PhD in chemical engineering from The Queen’s University of Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he studied thermodynamics, heat transfer through large rubber sections, and vulcanization kinetics. He has a Master's degree in Polymer Technology also from The Queen’s University, and a BSc in Biological Chemistry from The University of Ulster.

Description:
Polymer or elastomer blending is a valuable technique at optimizing a set of performance properties the design engineer is working to meet. Blending is used extensively in tire engineering. It is used in tread compounding, tire sidewall compounds, and many times in the tire innerliner. This enables the engineer to achieve what in most instances is a satisfactory compromise between conflicting design requirements. The important aspects to blending is polymer compatibility, setting up effective mixing cycles to achieve the needed level of dispersion, and in the tire before vulcanization, control of compounding ingredient migration across component interfaces.

Live Webinar Held: 11 August 2021 (Wednesday)

Speaker:
Brendan Rodgers, based in Austin Texas, has spent 42 years working in the tire and rubber industry with both The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and ExxonMobil. He has worked on a broad range of tire and industrial rubber products including hydraulic hose and conveyor belts, materials technology, and product design. He has had work assignments here in the United States, China, Ireland, Italy, and Luxembourg, working on original equipment automobile tires, truck tires, industrial rubber products, and new tire materials technologies. He is the originator of a broad range of patents in tire and rubber technology and many industry publications including editor of the text, Rubber Compounding, Chemistry and Applications, and the text, Tire Engineering, both published by CRC Press. Brendan has a PhD in chemical engineering from The Queen’s University of Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he studied thermodynamics, heat transfer through large rubber sections, and vulcanization kinetics. He has a Master's degree in Polymer Technology also from The Queen’s University, and a BSc in Biological Chemistry from The University of Ulster.

Description:


Live Webinar Held: 15 February 2022 (Tuesday)

Speaker:
Brendan Rodgers, based in Austin Texas, has spent 42 years working in the tire and rubber industry with both The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and ExxonMobil. He has worked on a broad range of tire and industrial rubber products including hydraulic hose and conveyor belts, materials technology, and product design. He has had work assignments here in the United States, China, Ireland, Italy, and Luxembourg, working on original equipment automobile tires, truck tires, industrial rubber products, and new tire materials technologies. He is the originator of a broad range of patents in tire and rubber technology and many industry publications including editor of the text, Rubber Compounding, Chemistry and Applications, and the text, Tire Engineering, both published by CRC Press. Brendan has a PhD in chemical engineering from The Queen’s University of Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he studied thermodynamics, heat transfer through large rubber sections, and vulcanization kinetics. He has a Master's degree in Polymer Technology also from The Queen’s University, and a BSc in Biological Chemistry from The University of Ulster.

Description:
Program Content: # Aircraft Tire Types; Terminology; #Performance Challenges; # Materials Technologies (Retreading, Tread Wear, Innerliner, Sidewall); #Compound Formulations

Live Webinar Held: 04 November 2021 (Thursday)

Speaker:
Brendan Rodgers, based in Austin Texas, has spent 42 years working in the tire and rubber industry with both The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and ExxonMobil. He has worked on a broad range of tire and industrial rubber products including hydraulic hose and conveyor belts, materials technology, and product design. He has had work assignments here in the United States, China, Ireland, Italy, and Luxembourg, working on original equipment automobile tires, truck tires, industrial rubber products, and new tire materials technologies. He is the originator of a broad range of patents in tire and rubber technology and many industry publications including editor of the text, Rubber Compounding, Chemistry and Applications, and the text, Tire Engineering, both published by CRC Press. Brendan has a PhD in chemical engineering from The Queen’s University of Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he studied thermodynamics, heat transfer through large rubber sections, and vulcanization kinetics. He has a Master's degree in Polymer Technology also from The Queen’s University, and a BSc in Biological Chemistry from The University of Ulster.