GARIT G5, Newest Studless Tire from Toyo Tire & Rubber, Uses Rhein Chemie High-Performance Rubber Additive Micromorph®
Tuesday, 04. August 2009 Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of German specialty chemicals company LANXESS, announces that its high-performance rubber additive Micromorph® is a key ingredient in the GARIT G5 studless tire from Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. (President & CEO: Kenji Nakakura) scheduled for release today.
Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of German specialty chemicals company LANXESS, announces that its high-performance rubber additive Micromorph® is a key ingredient in the GARIT G5 studless tire from Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd. (President & CEO: Kenji Nakakura) scheduled for release today. Studless tires using Micromorph® maintain their softness and flexibility even at sub-zero temperatures for superior road handling and stronger grip on winter road surfaces including snow and ice.
The high-performance rubber additive Micromorph® is used in the new absorbent micro gel rubber that Toyo Tire developed for the GARIT G5 tire. Studless tires using Micromorph® offer excellent stiffness on both wet and dry roads while at the same time preventing hardening of the rubber on snow and icy surfaces. This maintains flexibility and allows the tire rubber to absorb bumps on the road. Moreover, the other components of the absorbent micro gel rubber work better: the Japanese “walnut shell fragments” contribute to better road grip, and the bamboo charcoal can more easily absorb water, which results in high-performance on the ice *1.
Made using a special manufacturing process, Micromorph® was developed to give unprecedented performance in a wide range of rubber, plastic, and lubricant products. Composed of rubber particles measuring between 40 and 200 nanometers, Micromorph® allows the specific contact surface of the rubber to be increased. Rubber with Micromorph® added has a glass transition temperature of -75°C, which keeps the tire tread soft and flexible even at extremely low temperatures, while maintaining stiffness at regular temperatures. Adding Micromorph® improves and balances all three qualities of wet skid properties, rolling resistance, and longevity. Micromorph® also offers superior dispersion properties achieving uniform mixing in shorter time periods.
According to Dr. Anno Borkowsky, CEO and President of Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH, “Rhein Chemie is proud that Toyo is embarking on the first commercial use worldwide of the innovative Micromorph® to offer a tire that sets new standards in handling iced and wet road surfaces while at the same time offering a reduced environmental footprint.”
*1 “Walnut shell fragments” and “water-absorbent carbonic powder” made from Japanese bamboo charcoal are extremely effective when coming in contact with road surfaces. “Walnut shell fragments” improve the tire’s ability to grip the road and “water-absorbent carbonic powder” eliminates the microscopic film of water that results in slipping, thus allowing the tire to better ice grip on the road.
Rhein Chemie Japan Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH, Mannheim, Germany. Next year the site in Toyohashi, the center of Japan’s automotive industry, will be celebrating 20 years of successful production of polymer-bound chemicals (Rhenogran®) and release agents (Rhenodiv®). Rhein Chemie Japan’s quality concepts are considered exemplary and are frequently transferred to the Group’s global level.
Rhein Chemie is a company with a successful track record in customized additives and service products stretching back over 100 years. The approximately 850-strong workforce produces and sells products for various sectors of the rubber, lubricants and plastics industries. The company has subsidiaries and production facilities in Europe, Asia as well as North and South America. Rhein Chemie is a wholly owned subsidiary of LANXESS Deutschland GmbH, Leverkusen, Germany.
Mannheim, 04. August 2009
bit (2009-01-0709EN)
Forward-Looking Statements
This company release contains certain forward-looking statements, including assumptions, opinions, expectations and views of the company or cited from third party sources. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause the actual results, financial position, development or performance of LANXESS AG to differ materially from the estimations expressed or implied herein. LANXESS AG does not guarantee that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does it accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the opinions expressed in this presentation or the actual occurrence of the forecast developments. No representation or warranty (expressed or implied) is made as to, and no reliance should be placed on, any information, estimates, targets and opinions, contained herein, and no liability whatsoever is accepted as to any errors, omissions or misstatements contained herein, and accordingly, no representative of LANXESS AG or any of its affiliated companies or any of such person's officers, directors or employees accept any liability whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from the use of this document.
