Sumitomo Rubber Industries says it has developed a new design technique called Nano Black, which gives a deeper black coloring to the lettering, logos and patterns imprinted on the sidewalls of tires. The technique involves adding extremely fine ridges to the sidewall surface to inhibit light reflection, thereby producing a deeper shade of black than conventional hues.
The company claims that the process provides improved visibility of brand logos, trade names and other markings on tire sidewalls while giving tires a more luxurious overall design aesthetic.
Sumitomo notes that the more times that light strikes a light-absorbing surface, the more light is ultimately absorbed, resulting in deeper, darker shades of black. The Nano Black process is said to take full advantage of this principle by adding fine ridges to the surface of a tire sidewall to maximize the light-absorbing surface area per unit of sidewall area.
