INDUSTRYNEWS Computer simulation for elastomers
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wo US companies Endurica, producer of simulation system technology, and analysis software provider Safe Technology have partnered to produce fe-safe/Rubber, a solution for computer simulation of fatigue failure in elastomers. This allows analysts responsible for the durability of elastomeric products to have a validated method that enables them to investigate, at the inception of a design change, the issues that will determine product durability. Similar solutions for fatigue analysis from FEA
of metallic components have been available for many years and have become an essential part of maturing and qualifying design concepts, providing a cost-effective and proven basis for justifying investment in physical prototypes and testing. But the metal fatigue codes do not work well for rubber components as they do not consider rubber’s unique structure and non-linear behaviour, notes Safe Technology. The new technology handles rubber’s finitestrain kinematics, hyperelastic stress-
strain behaviour, strain crystallisation, temperature-dependence and other effects, such as ozone attack. These effects have been captured in the model and integrated with widely accepted procedures, such as critical plane analysis, fracture mechanics and rainflow counting, to provide a complete system capable of accounting for complex duty cycles, including multi-axial loadings and variable amplitudes. The US Army is among the first users of the technology, applying it to develop rubber components
Bridgestone pumps up investments globally
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he world’s largest tyre maker Bridgestone is putting in more investments in Japan, the US and Vietnam. At its home base in Hofu, Japan, it will invest 4.7 billion yen to increase capacity of small and medium-sized off-the-road radial (ORR) tyres for construction and mining vehicles. The aim is to increase the plant’s capacity to 94 tonnes/day during the first quarter of 2014. Even though Bridgestone has increased capacity at its Thai and Indonesian plants to supply radial tyres for passenger cars (PSRs) in these markets, it is going ahead with its Vietnamese plant to respond to continuing growth. Thus, it will invest 35.5 billion yen to set up a plant to produce
NEWS in brief Pyrolysis process patented US-based recycling technology company Polyflow has obtained patents from the US and Australia for its proprietary pyrolysis process that converts mixed and contaminated plastic and rubber waste into transportation fuels and chemical intermediates. The Akron-based company is designing a full-scale processor capable of converting up to 2.5 tonnes of mixed and contaminated polymer and rubber waste/hour. It will come online in 2012.
(PSRs). Production will begin in the first half of 2014 at the Vietnamese plant that will have a capacity of 24,700 tyres/ day after the ramp-up is completed in the first half of 2016. The output will be exported to Europe and the US. In the US, the Japanese company broke ground on a new ORR tyre facility recently. The company is also adding on an extra 474,000-sq ft expansion to the existing PSR and light truck (LTR) tyre plant in Aiken County. The company had previously announced a 266,000-sq ft expansion of the PSR/LTR plant in July this year. When fully completed, the three projects will total a US$1.2 billion investment in the country.
Dunlop adds on belts in Europe Dunlop Conveyor Belting will invest up to EUR6.4 million in the Netherlands and elsewhere. Costing EUR2.5 million, the first 1
rubber journal ASIA • DECEMBER 2011
in the track system of military ground vehicles. Other early interest has come from the heavy equipment, consumer products, offshore, medical devices and automotive sectors. Endurica’s patented technology is now available from Safe Technology as a stand alone product. A fully integrated version of the technology, taking advantage of fe-safe’s user interface and direct links to FEA codes, will be available in 2012. The technology will support all major FEA codes including Abaqus, ANSYS, NASTRAN (MSC, NEi, NX), Pro-M and Ideas.
phase will add a new press at the Drachten site to produce rolls of up to 4 m diameter (20 tonnes) and 1,400 mm width. The second phase will include a new production hall on the existing site, housing a steelcord production line. To come on stream by 2012, the unit will make up to 1,600 mm wide belts. Pirelli invests in Russia French tyre maker Pirelli is investing EUR2.4 billion over the next five years, including EUR200 million in Russia. Having signed a joint venture agreement with the Russian Technologies State Corporation in 2008, Pirelli will now buy the Kirov and Voronezh tyre plants (formerly part of Amtel-Vredestein) from Sibur-Russian Tyres. The company will set up its first joint venture this year and the second in 2012.
INDUSTRYNEWS Turnkey car tyre recycling set-up
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wo market leaders have come together to provide a new concept for tyre recycling. Germany-based size reduction machinery supplier Pallmann has tied up with Spanish tyre recycler GMN to develop plants for shredding and reprocessing vehicle tyres. Pallmann has been supplying GMN with tyre shredding plants since 2004. The two companies have been working together to optimise costs per tonne, final product quality and output rates. Rubber, steel and textile fractions are extracted and sorted from used car and truck tyres; the separated materials are then marketed for reprocessing into various applications. Against this background, GMN and Pallmann are now cooperating to come to the market as Ecotrec, a global provider of complete systems that encompasse s all modules necessary for recycling car and truck tyres. These include shredders (Lion and Tiger units), granulators (Panther)
and separators (Eco-Sep) as well as complete conveyor and control technology, including appropriate know-how. Initial focus will be on Europe and the US. Tyres that do not go directly back into retreads have until now typically been ground up and burnt on an industrial level, in cement plants, for example. However, profit margins are not attractive. The companies say that Ecotrec systems create high value added raw materials that can be sold at attractive prices. There is a large market for pure steel, for example, while the high-quality, pure rubber fraction can be produced in different, easy-to-process granule sizes that can be sold directly to producers of tyres or other products. Other applications, such as the use of the rubber granules as aggregate in asphalt mixtures, offer sales opportunities that are interesting on both economic and technical levels.
Pallmann and GMN say they are opening up new market opportunities for old tyres that can be turned into valuable resources. Shown here is Pallmann’s facility in Germany 2 rubber journal ASIA • DECEMBER 2011