Today’s News

Yokohama announces price increases on commercial and consumer tires
Yokohama Tire Corporation announced it will implement a price increase on its consumer replacement tires and commercial truck tires sold in the U.S., effective July 1. The increase is in response to the unparalleled rise in costs associated with materials and operations.”

Birla Carbon increases prices for North America
Birla Carbon announced a 15% price increase for all carbon black products manufactured in North America, effective July 1, 2022. All shipments made on or after this date are subject to the price increase.

Myers Industries acquires Georgia rotational molding facility from Step2
Myers Industries, Inc. announced that it is increasing its production capacities through the acquisition of the Decatur-based rotational molding manufacturing assets of Step2 Co, LLC for an undisclosed sum.

Industrial rubber market forecast at $46 billion by 2030
The industrial rubber sector is seeing growth as a result of the business’s expanding application area, increased demand in the Asia Pacific region, and technological advancements in the industry. Industrial rubbers are some of the most versatile materials available, and they can be found in nearly every aspect of the modern industry today. Increasingly, industrial rubber is being used in a variety of applications including automotive, building & construction, industrial manufacturing, polymer modification, wire and cable, bitumen modification, electrical & electronics, sealant& adhesive, coating, medical & healthcare, and a variety of other industries.

IRSG welcomes the Vietnam Rubber Group as new member
The International Rubber Study Group announced that the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) has joined the IRSG Panel of Associates. The Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) was established and has been developing since 1975, under different names

Recycled Rubber Coalition releases new policy primer on RMA for road construction
The Recycled Rubber Coalition (RRC) released its policy primer on rubber-modified asphalt (RMA), an asphalt mixture that blends crumb rubber with traditional asphalt materials. The primer details what rubber-modified asphalt is, where it is currently used, and its benefits for road construction.

International Elastomer Conference, Technical Meeting & Student Symposium abstract deadline extended to May 25th
Call for Abstracts for the 2022 International Elastomer Conference, Technical Meeting & Student Symposium has been extended to May 25th. The Rubber Division, ACS invites your submissions for inclusion in the International Elastomer Conference Technical Meeting & Student Symposium October 11-13, 2022 in Knoxville, TN. Join the leading researchers and innovators in the rubber/elastomer industry and share your expertise.
Featured Articles

Tech Service: FEPM type fluoroelastomers for charging cables
FEPM type fluoroelastomers are shown to improve the performance of high voltage automotive charging cables.
Mixing

Effect of accelerator mixing ratio on curing characteristics of EPDM gasket materials
In a four-person household, the washing machine is in operation about one and a half hours a day. On average, it washes, rinses and spins about 250 times a year, cleaning some 1,000 kilograms of dirty laundry, an amount that is increasing all the time. Its components, particularly the rubber hose systems and rubber gaskets, are subjected to greater chemical and mechanical stresses than just about any other household appliance. Moisture, detergents and cleaning agents, particularly alkaline agents, as well as high water temperatures must not have an adverse effect on the material. Due to the long service life of the washing machine, all polymer parts, especially rubber parts, need to have a service life of at least 10 years, which means excellent resistance to aging.
Extrusion

Davis-Standard introduced new compact extruder for coating applications
Davis-Standard introduced a new compact extruder engineered for extrusion coating applications – the CHP. The machine’s sleek design offers a smaller footprint and lighter weight to allow for easier addition to an existing carriage or platform structure. This provides processors with a space-saving replacement or coextrusion addition for increasing outputs and line speed
Silicone & Medical

Trelleborg’s iCast LSR speeds small batch product development
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions is supporting manufacturers with iCast™ LSR, a new fast and flexible digital manufacturing process for product development and small batch production of Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) parts.
Trelleborg’s unique iCastTM LSR process offers a cost-effective way for manufacturers to develop product variations or try out different design concepts before investing in serial production tools. In addition, the process enables the start of pre-series and series production with small batches, to close the gap between low and high-volume production.
Oil, Gas & Energy

Lanxess new prepolymer degrades in aqueous and hot applications for oil and gas
LANXESS is adding to its extensive range of polyurethane (PU) systems for the oil and gas industry with a new prepolymer: Adiprene® Degrade 80C AQ90A. It can be used to manufacture elastomer components that can be deployed in temporary challenging applications and break down by themselves in warm (from 50 to 93ºC) and wet environments after a defined period of time
Testing & Instruments

How to increase throughput when testing elastomers
When elastomers are being used in a manufacturing process, it is important to verify their physical properties by performing testing
at all stages of production. When researching and developing new elastomers, such as those used in tires, extensive testing is required to verify and validate each elastomeric compound. Research and development facilities for elastomeric materials will sometimes go through hundreds or thousands of specimens before moving on toward production. During production, testing is typically performed for quality control purposes
Molding

Troubleshooting a mold for injection molding
Opportunities abound in the rubber industry for polymers/ingredients suppliers, compounders,
processors, designers, mold makers and end users to embrace polymer flow analysis.
Thermoplastic Elastomers & Urethanes

Novel value-added thermoplastic elastomers bonding to polyamides
Bonding thermoplastic elastomers to polar and non-polar substrates has been widely studied in the past few decades to create products that enhance ergonomic comfort and functionality. Overmolding a TPE compared to two-shot molding is a litmus test for bonding the material to the substrate. The TPE must wet the cold surface and must melt a few nanometers of the surface of the substrate that is being overmolded on to facilitate bonding.
Latex and Natural Rubber

Goodyear to develop domestic source of natural rubber using dandelions
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company announced a multi-year, multi-million-dollar program supported by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and BioMADE to work with Ohio-based Farmed Materials to develop a domestic source of natural rubber from a specific species of dandelion
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