Tire Technology Expo 2024 took place in Hannover, Germany, on March 19-21, and brought together more than 240 exhibitors from the global tire sector. This premier event offered a comprehensive showcase of the latest developments in the tire industry designed to enhance sustainability and improve performance, and enabled attendees to engage with industry leaders and explore technological innovations in one convenient location.
Among the notable exhibitors were Michelin, Conti Bladders, VMI, Siemens, Zeppelin Systems, Levidian and HF Group, each presenting their advancements to customers, visitors and peers.
Feedback from Tire Technology Expo attendees and exhibitors was notably positive, with many previous visitors making a return to the exhibition. Among those familiar faces was Oliver Benecke, compound designer at Sumitomo Rubber Europe, who said, “It is always interesting to return to the expo and to meet old friends. Rubber materials is my particular interest and I find the show a great opportunity to gain an accurate impression of products on offer because every year there is something new.”
Another returning attendee, Ivan Galashev, global category manager at Continental, praised the variety of exhibitors at the show: “I am responsible for spare parts, so the show is a useful platform to come and speak to suppliers, seeing what they have to offer and how we can support each other.”
Exhibition
Highlights from Tire Technology Expo 2024 included the VMI booth which showcased smart solutions that optimize tire building, including new advanced camera-based vision systems, self-learning AI algorithms and self-adjusting processes which contribute to further automation. The company outlined the combination of both AI and machine learning algorithms with vision systems and other forms of smart software, which it says brings new levels of control, agility and quality to its existing installed base of TBMs.
Mike Norman, CCO VMI Group, said, “As AI (and other forms of smart software) become an integral part of tire production, we will see incremental changes and improvements in all these areas.”
Meanwhile, Zeppelin Systems focused on the importance of recyclates in the circular economy and detailed the Zeppelin Sustainable Tire Alliance, a collaboration with international partners across the value chain set up to to promote and enhance tire recycling processes on an industrial scale.
Guido Veit, VP of sales for plastic and rubber, explained, “The Zeppelin Sustainable Tire Alliance offers comprehensive solutions for the sustainable production of tires, tire recycling, rubber mixing and material handling to conserve Earth’s precious resources. By integrating unique and innovative expertise from international partners throughout the production and recycling process of tires, the alliance fosters a synergistic approach to sustainable tire production.”
In the tire design and testing field, accurate data is essential for understanding tire performance. XSensor’s High-Speed (HS) Tire system – which was on show at Tire Technology Expo – is a solution for tire designers and test engineers, providing high-resolution contact-patch pressure data necessary for analyzing tire behavior at high speeds. The HS system is designed to be quickly assembled and configured for data recording, typically in about 10 minutes. It captures fine tread details and records at frequencies over 450Hz, even at speeds up to 150km/h.
Elaborating on the process, Gabriel Grenier-Baird, marketing director at XSensor, said, “Advances in proprietary hardware have resulted in much faster recording rates for high-resolution pressure sensors. Additionally, advances in the dynamic response rate of sensors mean cleaner images and more reliable pressure data are available.”
Levidian chose Tire Technology Expo to unveil its graphene-enhanced prototype truck tire, which combines net-zero graphene with carbon black in a new tread formulation and which, the company said, could unlock a future of greener, higher-performance tires. Independent testing by the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) has shown that the addition of Levidian’s net-zero graphene can deliver a reduction in rolling resistance of around 23% and initial results have also indicated potential for reduced compound density that could enable lighter tires.
A wide-array of technology at the show also focused on the sustainable approach to rubber production, including Zeon’s display of synthetic rubbers S-SBR and Li-BR, which are mainly used for high-performance passenger car tire applications; CheeShine’s sustainable oils made from bio-based renewable raw materials to reduce the use of petrochemical raw materials, and UTH’s display of clean rubber compounds.
Conference
The 2024 Conference kicked off with a welcome address from Tony Robinson, chairman of UKi Media & Events and founder of Tire Technology Expo.
Important presentations included Pierre Fraisse of Michelin discussing lifecycle analysis for tire design and Dalia Broggi from the European Commission addressing the impact of tire aging and wear on wet grip performance. Other topics covered during the conference included tire rolling resistance, thermo-mechanical tire modeling and a physics-based approach to estimating tire characteristics.
There were numerous discussions on sustainability and the future of tire manufacturing and design, with Frederic Biesse, senior fellow for tire physics and modeling at Michelin, outlining the latest findings on TRWP properties and emissions; Pirelli’s Luca Giannini, project manager, innovative compounds – nanomaterials,
talked about Lignin NR composites for high-performance sustainable tires; and Nadine Aschenbrenner, test engineer at Continental, discussed the challenges in the generation of tire wear particles indoors.
The ‘Smart Tires – Innovation and Ecosystem’ stream opened with a presentation from Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ Dr Toshio Tada, who presented the company’s innovative concept for a future autonomous mobility society – Active Tread – and how it benefits AVs and sustainability. The Smart Tires stream was moderated by Riccardo Giovannotti from GDSO and featured presentations from the organization’s members.
Hankook kept the same focus with a presentation titled ‘Tire materials and technology arms race’ by Guy Heywood, the company’s vice president, Europe, who said, “We’ve got ambitions to be 100% sustainable, 100% carbon free by 2050. We’re looking at material supply, factories, all of the facets – the full lifecycle of the tire.”
Bridgestone’s presentation on its Enliten technology was another highlight, showing how it is enabling sustainability as a tire performance attribute; Apollo Tyres spoke on experimental validation of exterior tire noise; and the stream on ‘Advances in manufacturing, including AI, Industry 4.0 and sustainability’ featured contributions from HF Mixing Group and VMI Group.
Awards
This year’s Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence, presented at Deutsche Messe during Tire Technology Expo 2024, celebrated the very best innovations and achievements across the tire industry during the last 12 months.
The 13 categories highlighted recent advances in tire technology and progress toward a greener and more sustainable industry, and were an opportunity to acknowledge the personal achievements of some remarkable individuals. The awards, coordinated by Tire Technology International magazine, were officiated by a panel of international journalists and industry experts.
Winners were announced during an evening reception on the expo’s first day, including Continental, which collected three awards; Bridgestone, which took home the coveted Tire Manufacturer of the Year award; Goodyear; Sumitomo Rubber Industries; and the BlackCycle Project. The 2024 Young Scientist Prize was awarded to Nadine Aschenbrenner and this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Günter Leister.
Look out for more information on this year’s awards in the June issue of Tire Technology International.
Next year’s show
Following the success of this year’s event, the dates for Tire Technology Expo 2025 have already been announced, with the show set to take place on March 4, 5 & 6 in Hannover, Germany.
