Technology: Toyo advances AI-based materials development

Hyogo, Japan – Toyo Tire Corp., in collaboration with SAS Institute Japan, has advanced rubber processing technology using the tire maker's AI-assisted material development platform ‘nano balance technology’.

The platform uses ‘game-changing’ AI-based materials informatics (MI) technology, which can predict the properties and optimise the structure of rubber materials, Toyo said in a 21 April statement.

The predictive technology cuts material development times as it will not require the “very time-consuming trial and error process… and repeated experimentation,” Toyo added.

“The introduction of MI technology allows us to build a system that creates highly accurate predictions of properties and recipes, which enables efficient material development with minimal testing,” the tire maker added. 

The system, according to Toyo, implements a nonlinear regression model, which can make expanded predictions "that go beyond existing knowledge", by importing external information to a database.

Toyo said it has been developing the MI technology since 2018 using its accumulated data assets, and external information, to validate the predictive process of recipes and physical properties. 

Going forward, the company said it will put its in-house data into “full and effective use,” to produce high-performance products faster and at a lower cost. 

Toyo claims its nano balance technology can manufacture “ideal rubber materials with high precision” to improve the rolling resistance and braking performance of tires. 

For trucks and bus tires, the company said it had used the technology platform to develop a series of products with "low fuel consumption treads."