JSR launches new SBR for high performance tires

Tokyo - JSR Corp. has developed a new styrene butadiene copolymer rubber (SBR) for automotive tires with “significantly improved” mechanical strength and wear resistance compared to conventional SBR, the company announced 3 Sept.

Developed to meet the demands of future mobility, the new rubber combines JSR’s “unique polymerisation and hydrogenation technologies” to control the number of unsaturated bonds in the material.

Through this process, explained JSR, it is possible to optimise the interactions among polymer molecules and minimise the stress produced in crosslinking.

“As a result, this new SBR has, not only approximately two times the mechanical strength of conventional SBR, but also exceeds the strength of natural rubber,” the Japanese materials supplier added.

According to JSR, tires using the new material as the tread compound rubber have demonstrated more than 50% better wear resistance along with low fuel consumption and grip performance compared to tires made with “conventional SBR”.

JSR will present the material during the International Elastomer Conference held in Cleveland, Ohio 8-10 Oct.