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NXT SILANES FROM SE HELP DRIVE LOWER ETHANOL EMISSIONS AND PROCESSING COSTS FOR SILICA TYRE TREAD COMPOUNDS
25 February 2005 - GE Advanced Materials
| Tyre manufacturers have been looking for an easy, efficient, lower cost way to produce tyre tread compounds filled with silica instead of carbon black. Now they can look to GE's new NXT LowV silane and NXT Ultra-LowV silane coupling agents. |
Tyre manufacturers have been looking for an easy, efficient, lower cost way to produce tyre tread compounds filled with silica instead of carbon black. Now they can look to GE's new NXT LowV silane and NXT Ultra-LowV silane coupling agents. These new products can help decrease ethanol emissions up to 90 percent, compared to polysulphide silanes. This new generation of silanes provides the same easy, one-step mixing that helps shorten processing time and lowers cost as provided by NXT silane, introduced by GE in 2003. Tyre tread compounds filled with silica help reduce automobile fuel consumption by up to five percent and improve traction and handling, but silica tyre tread has been difficult to manufacture. The use of traditional polysulphide silanes as the chemical coupling agents (for coupling silica to rubber) in silica tread compounds complicates and prolongs mixing, and generates ethanol throughout the production and life of the tyre. The end result is higher cost for processing and for abatement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). GE's new NXT LowV silane and NXT Ultra-LowV silane coupling agents help give tyre manufacturers the ability to produce a better tyre. Silica is not miscible in rubber, making its dispersion more difficult than carbon black. To keep the silica stationary within the compound, it must be chemically coupled to the rubber. Traditionally, polysulphide silanes have been used as coupling agents. But with their narrow processing window and sensitivity to high heat, which can cause premature vulcanization during mixing, these traditional polysulphide silanes must be carefully mixed and cooled in a multi-step process at lower temperatures. As a result, mixing accounts for about 10 percent of the cost of silica tyres, making them more costly than tyres compounded with carbon black. Ethanol emissions are generated when traditional silanes react in silica-rubber, both during processing and over the life of the tyre. These emissions adversely impact the environment, and they can raise costs due to the need for emission controls during manufacturing. “GE's LowV silanes can make a significant improvement in the cost of silica tyres, helping to increase their competitive advantage against tyres utilizing carbon black,' said Mike Stout, global marketing manager, tyre, GE Advanced Materials. 'Equally important, these materials can noticeably lower ethanol emissions, helping to support a cleaner environment and reducing abatement costs.' Compared with polysulphide silanes, GE's NXT LowV silane can help reduce ethanol emissions by up to 70 percent, and NXT Ultra-LowV silane may help reduce these emissions by up to 90 percent. The GE materials also improve upon the multi-step, temperature-sensitive mixing processes of older technologies. By enabling 'hot and fast' one-step mixing at higher temperatures (up to 180 C), GE's NXT low-VOC silane grades may help reduce tread mixing costs and cure time, provide long shelf life of rubber compound, and impact the reduction of VOC emissions.
http://www.ge.com
About: GE Advanced Materials
GE Advanced Materials is a world leader in providing materials solutions through engineering thermoplastics, silicone-based products and technology platforms, and fused quartz and ceramics. Among its businesses are:• Silicones, which includes GE Toshiba Silicones in the Pacific region and GE Bayer Silicones in Europe, offers silanes, specialty silicones, urethane additives, adhesives, sealants, resins, and elastomers for a variety of industries such as personal care, automotive, tire and rubber, construction, healthcare, electronics, household and institutional, agriculture, textiles, appliances, bedding and furnishings, foam control, and consumer (http://www.gesilicones.com/gesilicones/am1/en/home.jsp); • Plastics is a global plastics materials supplier and distributor, which serves customers in a variety of industries including aerospace, appliances, automotive, building and construction, data storage and optical media, medical, electrical and electronics devices, telecommunications, computers and peripheral devices, outdoor vehicles and devices, and packaging (http://www.geplastics.com/); • Quartz produces high purity materials for the semiconductor, fiber optic, lamp making and water purification industries. GE Quartz is a leading supplier of quartz materials to the semiconductor industry (http://www.gequartz.com/en/index.htm); Established in 1968, GE Advanced Materials’ Specialty Film & Sheet business is a leading supplier of high-performance engineering film and sheet products to the United States, Europe, Africa, India, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and operates a worldwide network of sales, research, manufacturing and technical services facilities. Today, GE Advanced Materials, Specialty Film & Sheet employs about 600 people, and manufactures engineering sheet and film products at 12 facilities in 9 countries worldwide. Recent investments:
• 2003 New Roofing Structures Line in Italy, Europe
• 2003 New Coating Lines in China & Malaysia, Pacific
• 2002 Acquisition of Plastech, China
• 2001 New Film Lines in USA and Europe
• 2001 Acquisition of Carboron, Malaysia
• 2000 Acquisition of Matraplast, Canada
• 2000 Acquisition of Nim Plastics, USA Products:
GE Advanced Materials offers a variety of film materials are to meet different type of applications such as graphic film, coated products, electrical & electronic products, and specialties. The key film materials available today include:
• Lexan* Polycarbonate film
• Ultem* film
• Lexan* SLX film
• Valox* film
• Lexan* Illuminex* film GE Advanced Materials’ sheet product line includes a wide range of structures from solid sheet, multi-wall sheet and corrugated sheet through to coated sheet and laminates and combinations of each of these. The key sheet materials available today include:
• Lexan* Polycarbonate sheet
• Lexan* Solar Control IR sheet
• Margard* coated sheet
• Lexgard* laminated sheet
• Ultem* sheet
• Lexan EXL* sheet GE Advanced Materials, Specialty Film & Sheet, serves customers in a variety of industries including aircraft, appliances, automotive, building and construction, business machines, electrical & lighting, furnishing, greenhouse, industrial roofing, medical, electrical and electronics devices, telecommunications and packaging. In January 2004, in line with GE Corporate’ new brand architecture, GE Advanced Materials has announced the change of GE Structured Products business naming to GE Advanced Materials, Specialty Film & Sheet. |
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• From GE Advanced Materials
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