Conti-Kordsa tire-adhesive platform ’gains traction’

Cologne, Germany – Continental Corp. and Kordsa have reported strong demand from companies interested in licencing their new resorcinol-formaldehyde-free tire cord adhesive system.

The technology, dubbed Cokoon, was introduced by the two companies in March as a free “open innovation, open source” platform to serve the industry.

“Within a few weeks of the announcement, more than 25 NDAs were sent out [to interested parties],” Burak Ilgun, market development manager, Kordsa, said in a joint presentation at Future Tire Conference 2019.

Tire manufacturers, textile suppliers and converters as well as materials research groups have been among the initial group of companies interested in Cokoon, Ilgun added at the event held 11-12 June in Cologne.

Conti and Kordsa are offering the technology as part of a “technology pool”: in return for the free licencing, each pool member has to cross-licence its own existing and future improvements on the technology for free.

The name Cokoon, Ilgun explained, has been chosen to represent a “transformation” within the industry towards a more collaborative environment.

The new tire cord adhesive offers a sustainable alternative to systems based on formaldehyde and resorcinol, said co-presenter Thomas Kramer, head of expertfield reinforcements & skim compounds, Continental Reifen Deutschland.