The highly dispersible silica from Rhodia has been utilized increasingly in the tires of the passenger vehicles globally to enhance the rolling resistance on road surfaces up to 25%. This silica offers better vehicle gas mileage of up to 7% and the emissions are less with no wear of tires, grip or traction on wet surfaces. Currently, this highly dispersible silica when applied in non-tread regions enhances the performance of tires.
Soline de Cayeux, Rhodia’s silica business development manager reported about the enhanced efficiency at a technical presentation made at the annual Tire Industry Conference of Clemson University in southern Carolina. She explained about the working of the ZS product range, which is the company’s highly dispersible silica (HDS), in order to enhance energy efficiency of the tires and gas mileage of the vehicles.
De Cayeux added that the research efforts on tires have resulted in a wide range of applications like heavy-duty tires, wherein the fuel economy, performance and durability are considered to be significant, as also off-road vehicle applications, which utilize larger tires for off-road conditions and special terrain.
She explained the advantages and applications of HDS products in the presentation, titled “Rhodia’s Newest Highly Dispersible Silicas: Their Contribution to Lower Rolling Resistance Tires”. Initially, ZS Premium and ZS have been utilized in tire treads, specifically for passenger vehicle tires. She stated that the usage of certain HDS in the non-tread applications like sidewalls have increased the interest of the customers in order to increase the efficiency of the fuels. The ZS product range is utilized more in long haul, heavy duty and off the road (OTR) tires.
Source: http://www.rhodia.com/