In the weeks leading up to the opening, the organizers of Tire Technology Expo 2008 promised that this would be the best show in the event’s eight-year history. And sure enough, it fulfilled everyone’s expectations. On show at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany were more exhibitors than ever before, more advanced technologies to see than ever before, and a larger, more insightful conference than ever before.
Visitors came early to the conference, to catch the opening remarks from Maurizio Boiocchi, senior vice-president and head of R&D at Pirelli, who outlined a strong technical stance for future products. Keeping up the pace, Victor Underberg, Audi’s stability control systems manager, gave the OE view of the dynamic role of tires in the future, while Dr Burkhard Wies, vice-president of tire line development worldwide at Continental followed up with his views from a company that offers tires and dynamic systems. The rest of the first day’s program included further hard-hitting technical discussions, with presentations from the likes of Akihiko Nakamura from Sumitomo Rubber Industries, D.J.Myatt from Michelin, and Kevin Stock from Schrader Electronics. On subsequent days, a wealth of chemical knowledge was presented, from the likes of Columbian Chemicals, Evonik Degussa, Teijin Aramid, and EU Rhodia, coupled with strong academic research from many institutes including the University of Cambridge, VTI, ETRMA, the Iran Rubber Engineering and Research Institute, and Loughborough University.
The exhibition hall hosted record visitor numbers, with all 150-plus exhibitors welcoming the cream of the industry to their stands.
One happy exhibitor was Thilo Merkt, industry segment manager for materials handling at Habasit. He explained: “We are showing our transversal roller top belt here, which we have just finished testing in our new R&D center in Basel. It is in the very early market entrance phase, but we are sure that we will meet the right customers here at the Expo. We have already had good feedback, even within the first few hours of the first day.”
Across the hall, Tire Curing Bladders, LLC was showing its newly developed pre-coated lubricant. The company pre-coats the bladder with baked-on tire lubricant, which is claimed to increase the lifespan of the bladder and reduce the number of scrap tires created during production.
Beckhoff was presenting a new, fast control solution. XFC (eXtreme Fast Control Technology) is based on an optimized control and communication architecture comprising an advanced industrial PC, ultra-fast I/O terminals with extended real-time characteristics, an EtherCAT high-speed Ethernet system, and TwinCAT automation software. With XFC it is possible to realize I/O response times of less than 100µs, opening up new process optimization options for users that were not possible in the past due to technical limitations.
KraussMaffei Berstorff was showing a new line concept for the continuous production of rubber compounds. The key component of this line is a co-rotating ZE twin-screw extruder. The combination of a short rubber processing extruder with a downstream gear pump provides exact metering of the rubber or rubber compound quantity selected in the recipe into the subsequently arranged compounding extruder. Volumetric feeding for the compounding process is thus ensured, and instead of expensive pellets, roughly cut bale rubber strips can be directly processed.
One of the themes of the conference was making tires kinder to the environment, and this was reflected in the exhibition hall. A good example could be found at the stand of Rhodia Silcea. The company’s latest breakthrough, launched at the event, is Zeosil Premium – a high surface-area silica designed for energy-saving tires. It contains a new morphology – a combination of silica aggregate and element particles – that is claimed to reduce rolling resistance by up to 25 percent, while also improving road-holding and wear resistance. Commented Peter Browning, global business director at Rhodia Silcea: “This show has been a superb event, not only to put us in touch with tire manufacturers, but also with equipment manufacturers, who are passionately interested in learning about technologies that could hit the market in three or four years’ time. Meeting them is what makes this event unique.”
The rollout of innovative technologies continued throughout the exhibition hall, with Erhardt+Leimer launching the OL 81 CCD Line camera and DO 81 Controller board for width measurement and web guiding. The OL 81 camera system sets very high standards in operational accuracy, user-friendly commissioning, and rapid camera exchange, while the DO 81 Controller board offers the option of installation of customized application software.
Elsewhere, Laser-Med showed its just-completed Servo Laserbox AM1200. To stay abreast of changes in increasing industrial automation, the company has developed, in cooperation with the tire industry, a motor-driven linear unit. The advantage of this system is an open controller, which is able to receive the driving commands from all established SPS-control units. That makes it easy to integrate the Laserbox into the running production without a huge programming effort.
NDC announced a comprehensive wire calender measurement and control system. The system has been designed to improve quality and reduce costs in tire plants by using the latest sensor, scanner, control, and platform technology with application-matched displays to provide a comprehensive and easy-to-use measurement and control system. The system includes high-precision Beta transmission, X-ray backscatter, and X-ray transmission sensors mounted on a reliable fast-scanning AccuTrak ‘O’ frame located after the calender. It takes measurements for total gum weight, wire balance, wire cord count and position, and full sheet width.
VRM GmbH & Co KG showed newly developed, fully automatic X-ray machines for OTR and EM tires; a ‘small’ machine for 3,500mm maximum tire diameter and 1,200mm width; and the world’s largest machine of this kind, handling tires up to 4,200mm in diameter, 1,650mm width, and weighing around five tons. The significance of these machines, aside from their technical parameters and quality, is the employment of U-shape detectors, using CMOS technology to collect emitted X-rays, specially developed for this application in cooperation with NTB GmbH.
Visitors to RMS’s stand viewed the fruits of the company’s latest research – the mini single-roll roller die, which is claimed to revolutionize the extrusion and direct application of strips or profiles for innerliners, plies or breakers, as well as strip-winding applications, by providing greater control, improved accuracy, higher extrusion speeds, and lower extrusion temperatures. The company’s pin and smooth barrel cold-feed extruders provide higher outputs at lower temperatures, and are available with single or multiple co-extrusion hydraulic heads, including quadruplex configurations.
Münch Chemie International introduced the first semipermanent inside lubricant for earthmover (EM) tires. The microthin surface treatment is claimed to guarantee the needed lubrication and release properties for processing EM tires. IP-7061 allows users to mold up to 15 tires without refreshing the bladder surface. Problems in logistics of application are easy to overcome, since curing times limit the daily production to an equal value. Just one refreshment per day is usually sufficient to maintain good lubrication between bladder and green tire, according to company engineers.
Another highlight of the event was the Gala Dinner, which was attended by over 650 of the tire industry’s top brass. The dinner saw the presentation of the inaugural Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation Excellence – click here for a full list of winners.
http://www.tiretechnology-expo.com/index.html 
