Since the introduction of the “Green Tyre”, silica is more and more used in tyre applications. The use of silica greatly reduces the rolling resistance of tyres compared to the use of carbon black, which leads to lower fuel consumption of the car. However, the use of silica with common non-polar olefinic rubber is difficult. When mixed with rubber, silica has a tendency to agglomerate, rather than to interact with rubber. The projects on silica technology focus on improvements in processing behaviour of silica compounds, mechanistic investigations and application study of different silica/coupling agent combinations as well as special treatments of silica to improve its compatibility with various rubbers.
