Sentury advances tires incorporating ‘iron-based' synthetic rubber

Qingdao, China – Qingdao Sentury Tire and Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Processes (Qingdao Energy Institute) have jointly developed UHP tires incorporating "iron-based combed" synthetic rubber.

The development follows last year’s commissioning of an industrial-scaled plant by Qingdao Energy Institute to produce 'iron-based' solution-polymerised styrene butadiene rubber (SBR).

In a December 2023 statement, Sentury said the first batches of “more than 40,000 high-performance tires manufactured” with the SBR had all passed quality-control testing.

In IDIADA real vehicle field trials, it added, the test tires showed “excellent” wet braking performance; with anti-skid safety reaching “the highest level of the EU's new labelling regulation”.

Braking distance, said the tire maker, was shown to have been reduced to 80 metres at 120km/h speed, compared to the 100 metres conventionally required.

Furthermore, the tires are also claimed to reduce fuel-consumption compared to tires manufactured using traditional SBR.

At highway speeds, test vehicles had a fuel consumption of 7 litres per 100km using conventional tires. The figure dropped to “less than 6.5 litres per 100km” with the new tires, Sentury added.

Qingdao Energy Institute, in collaboration with Sinopec’s Baling Petrochemical, currently operates a facility with capacity to produce 30 kilotonnes per annum of the iron-based SBR.

The project, which has also involved Chinese tire makers Linglong and Haohua, is intended to address China's dependence on imports of synthetic rubber and “urgent need” for high-value conversion and utilisation of C4-C5 olefins.