Rubber machinery manufacturer Comerio Ercole and Directa Plus, a supplier of graphene nanoplatelet-based products, have entered an R&D tie-up. Together the two will co-develop tire mixing techniques and technologies for processing formulations containing graphene.
The teams will work out of Comerio Ercole’s brand-new R&D laboratory in Italy, using the mixing and calendering machinery to explore prototype processes using polymers and elastomers that could in future be used in compounds containing Directa Plus’s G+ graphene products.
Giulio Cesareo, founder and CEO of Directa Plus, said, “Working with selected partners that share our vision for product development is a great way to bring graphene-enhanced products to market in partnership with established Italian, European and global companies.”
Directa Plus is interested both in testing its G+ technology in polymer and elastomer manufacture and promoting its competence and products to customers of Comerio Ercole machinery and plants in the tire manufacturing business.
“Combining Comerio Ercole’s deep expertise in materials and machinery with our world-leading knowledge and understanding of graphene will help create new market opportunities for both companies to the benefit of the tire manufacturing industry,” commented Cesareo.
Riccardo Comerio, CEO of Comerio Ercole, added, “Comerio Ercole is a pioneer in the field of industrial innovation for mixing and calendering in tire manufacturing processes. With Directa Plus we are taking on an exciting new challenge to identify the most promising uses of graphene in our machinery and plants for selected, qualified customers. Based on our mixing and calendering laboratory experience, our target is to develop tailored industrial machinery for graphene applications.”
Interested in hearing more from Comerio Ercole? Mario Sacchi, R&D chief technology officer, Comerio Ercole, will present ‘HYDROSHOT – high-accuracy coupling force control for thin calendered products’ at the Tire Technology Expo Conference. You can also visit Comerio Ercole on Booth 8006 at the free-to-attend Tire Technology Expo 2020, where the company will have an area dedicated to Directa Plus’s G+ graphene additives mixing and calendering technology.
