Author: RubberWorld

Orion S.A. on Tuesday broke ground on a plant in Texas that will be the only facility in the U.S. producing acetylene-based conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries and other applications vital for the global shift to electrification.
The site in the city of La Porte, southeast of Houston, will create many high-skilled jobs – both in construction and technical fields – and bring innovative technology to the American economy. The battery additives produced by Orion’s plant will be super clean, with only one-tenth of the carbon footprint of other commonly used materials.

RDAbbott will supply Dow liquid silicone rubber (LSR) to four liquid injection molding (LIM) cells at NPE 2024, the plastics industry’s largest event. Two of these cells will also use pigments from NovationSi, RDAbbott’s manufacturing subsidiary. RDAbbott, an authorized distributor of Dow silicones in Mexico and the United States, provides top-notch technical service and support to supplier partners like Dow and collaborates with manufacturers of injection molding machines (IMMs), molds, and dosing systems.

Continental and Brabus have successfully subjected the new MaxContact MC7 sports tire to an exceptional endurance test. On the legendary supercar Brabus 750 Bodo Buschmann Edition “1 of 25”, the tire, which was specially developed for the Asia-Pacific region (APAC), showed what it is capable of in terms of maximum control and steering precision with a torque of up to 900 Nm. The test took place on the Contidrom circuit, the tire manufacturer’s legendary test track near Hanover. The tires fitted were size 275/35R21 on the front axle and 315/30R21 on the rear axle. The Brabus 750 special edition runs on SportContact 7 tires as original equipment. The premium tire manufacturer and the high-end tuner Brabus have been in a close partnership for more than a decade.

Karin Kingstad has joined Lianda as its Business Development Manager. The Lianda team is very excited to have Karin as a key player in its corporate growth strategy. Karin is a rubber industry veteran with successful careers as Business Development Manager at Hexpol Compounding and Key Account Manager at Bayer/LANXESS.

Falken Tires, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. of Japan, has been named the #1 Original Equipment tire brand for Truck/Utility vehicle owners according to the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Original Equipment Tire Customer Satisfaction Study.

Falken also ranked highest in Traction/Handling, further demonstrating its commitment to improving the driving experience for each and every customer.

The Rubber Division ACS would like to remind you that the Spring Technical Meeting being held in Columbus, OH begins on April 30th and runs through May 2nd. You can book your hotel room by April 15th and still receive the discount rate. Visit www.rubber.org for more information.

Fictiv announced a new hybrid injection molding solution for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who need the best possible tooling craftsmanship for reliable nearshore production. Through Fictiv’s global manufacturing network, OEMs can seamlessly order high-quality, production-grade tools manufactured in China in as fast as 4 weeks and then transferred to Mexico. This service provides the best total cost of ownership for molding in Mexico, including expert tool packaging and transfer to Mexico from China, bringing together the best of all worlds.

Continental has acquired the mold manufacturing specialist EMT s.r.o., based in Puchov, Slovakia. All shares of Continental’s long-standing supplier were transferred to Continental effective April 2, 2024

The Mitsui Chemicals Group’s Basic & Green Materials Business Sector, which includes phenol business, is aiming to redefine itself as a sustainable green chemicals business centered around competitive derivatives. As the Group works toward an optimized production setup at the company’s crackers line with demand, it will need to ensure that its derivatives are competitive – a need which prompted the Group to begin restructuring its Basic & Green Materials Business Sector shortly after the 2008 global financial crisis. The Group is now further accelerating its efforts toward this end as part of a second phase of restructuring, which will include the newly announced plant closure.