Rubber Heart reviews 2021
Hertford, UK – Tire Technology Virtual ‘Live’ and DKT Elastomer Symposium 2021 were just two of the recent virtual conferences that have been so successful in providing impressive platforms that have opened up these events to a much wider global audience. Great programs with presentations from industry leaders in science and technology but sitting for hours in front of a computer screen does make the prospect of the return of live events quite exciting and we are looking forward to being in Germany in 2022 for Tire Technology Expo 2022 (5th-7th April, Hannover) and DKT IRC 2021 (Nuremberg 27th -30th June).
But before 2022 there is already a growing programme of live events for the second half of the year and the highlight for the rubber industry will of course be the Rubber Division, ACS International Elastomer Conference (IEC) 2021 (5th-7th October 2021) in Pittsburgh. The exhibition space is already 80 percent sold and Rubber Heart’s booth is booked! The expo component to many technical conferences has proved to be more difficult to replicate in an online format and we have missed the networking aspect of these shows that extends way beyond the exhibition floor.
Rubber Division, ACS successfully relocated IEC 2020 online and will continue to make the Technical Meeting component of this year’s IEC accessible to a broader audience by offering it as a hybrid event. The programme is available to see on the IEC website where you will also find the schedules for the Educational and Student Symposiums.
If you were lucky enough to have been part of WORD Conversations – the great initiative for women of our industry from Rubber Division, ACS that began this year – you would have witnessed the inspiring and powerful stories from two amazing women: the first ever woman Goodyear Medallist Dr Judit Puskas and Terry DeLapa, the first Woman Chair of Rubber Division, ACS. The next featured guest on 21st July 2021 will be Dr Tamsin Astor, Chief Habit Scientist and International Speaker & Author who will be sharing her expertise on how to manage decision fatigue. Do sign up, it’s free and these live, one-hour meetings are truly interactive with breakout rooms for discussion and networking.
Rubber Division, ACS online educational programme continues all during the summer months with some excellent training opportunities for industry professionals and students covering many aspects of rubber science, technology and engineering, at basic and advanced levels – take a look to see the full programme here.
ACE Products & Consulting is an industry leading ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory based in Ravenna, Ohio providing testing and developmental services to the global rubber and silicone industries. In just over three years ACE has quadrupled its footprint, increased its accredited scope by 300%, increased its overall capabilities by 600% and expanded its customer base globally. President Erick Sharp has a wealth of knowledge and experience in all things rubber and is rapidly becoming an industry leading voice and is a much sought-after speaker and instructor. His next Rubber Division, ACS online course on Sustainability in the Rubber Industry takes place on Tuesday 27th July. Not to be missed, this course is a technical review of sustainable raw materials for the rubber industry including devulcanized and reclaim rubber, recycled carbon black and minerals and plant-based polymers and oils. For more information take a look at the course details on the Rubber Division, ACS website.
As Rubber Heart is only 18 months old, meeting our clients in person has unfortunately been something that has not been possible for us! Zoom and Teams of course has proved invaluable and will continue to be an integral part of our daily working lives, but last month we were so excited to be able to visit Wallace Instruments and Tenon Engineering in Dorking, Surrey to discuss future marketing strategies and plans for the rest of the year. Tenon designs and manufactures Wallace’s wide range of rubber testing equipment and it was so interesting to see the whole workflow process from design to fabrication and assembly of these complex, high quality instruments. Tenon has recently launched its fantastic new website and will be taking part in Advanced Engineering in Birmingham – the UK’s leading annual trade show for OEMs and engineering supply chain professionals – later in the year. Wallace continues to invest in the next generation of rubber testing equipment and has some exciting new product launches planned in the coming weeks.
Endurica LLC (Findlay, Ohio, USA) was founded in 2008 by Dr Will Mars, the international leader in the failure mechanics of rubber, to help the industry get durability right by revolutionising rubber product design throughout the world. Endurica wants to make CAE-based fatigue life prediction for rubber as widely practiced and as well-understood as fatigue life prediction for other materials by empowering materials, component, and system manufacturers with reliable methods and tools for assessing fatigue life. We are delighted that as European Sales & Marketing partner, Rubber Heart will be representing Endurica at the Instrumentation, Analysis & Testing Exhibition 2021 organised by the Engineering Integrity Society (EIS) at Silverstone, UK on Tuesday 14th September 2021. The event is aimed at companies and individuals with an interest in the field of engineering involving measurement, analysis, testing and prediction. It’s free to attend with complimentary refreshments and parking so do book your place to come and see us and the other 60-plus exhibitors!
Also on the calendar is Endurica’s next Winning on Durability webinar on Friday 23rd July. ‘Align Your Engineering Budget With Your Durability Goals’ is a free, hour-long masterclass on materials testing and fatigue analysis workflows that are available, the engineering options for each and the cost implications involved. Do check out Endurica’s latest newsletter as well – there is a great offer on the Fatigue Ninja Academy on-demand workflow tutorials over the summer.
The most recent IOM3 Rubber in Engineering Group meeting ‘Elastomers in Infrastructure’ is still available on the IOM3 website to watch on demand. This was another great event from RIEG that focussed on the use of elastomers in the public and private infrastructure surrounding our society and aimed to capture new materials, processes and applications utilising elastomers in this field.
The new Forward Focused webinar series from Trinseo Synthetic Rubber began in March with ‘The Automotive EV Revolution: Impacts and Challenges for OEMs, Tires and Materials’ and the second – New EU Tire Labeling: A Change Enabler for Better Tires Globally? – took place this month where industry players and analysts explored tyre labelling and the wider implications it has for the industry and consumer behaviour. Attracting hundreds of people from the industry with fantastic feedback on the content, if you missed it just sign up using the link for on-demand viewing.
FGV Rubber Industries Sdn Bhd has just completed a program of independent laboratory trials for one of its Specialty Natural Rubbers – Epoxidised Natural Rubber (FGV-ENR). The trials have focused on using ENR as a performance enhancer for several applications and have demonstrated that using between 5-10 phr ENR in a range of industry standard compounds can significantly improve key properties that will enable manufacturers to provide better performing products as well as helping them to reach their sustainability goals. As European & North American Sales & Marketing Representative, Rubber Heart will be publishing the results shortly and details will be available of how to obtain samples in both regions.