Rubber Consultants has purchased a new two-station passenger test rig as part of its equipment investment program for 2015. The rig will be commissioned in late spring. One hub will have a 320km/h speed and 2 metric ton capacity, and will be able to carry out force and moment measurements.
Rubber Consultants, which is the consultancy unit of rubber R&D laboratory, the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC), will be one of the few labs in Europe that can offer this service.
Paul Brown, head of Rubber Consultants tire testing services, explains, “The arrival and commissioning of the new rig is an exciting moment for our tire testing laboratory. Expansion of our facilities into the force and moment area ties together the tire and vehicle dynamic areas of our activities.”
Meanwhile, an Ekoprena-based truck tread compound has been successfully mixed and processed in large scale mixing trials at the production facilities of Kraiburg Austria, one of Europe’s major truck tire retreading compound manufacturers. Ekoprena is Malaysia’s sustainable, low carbon footprint specialty NR material, developed by technologists at TARRC.
TARRC has developed a new mixing procedure for silica-filled Ekoprena tire tread compounds that gives superior processing performance. In the past, Ekoprena tread compound mixed using TARRC’s 30kg pilot-scale mixing facilities, has been used to build truck tires with 27% lower rolling resistance when compared with a premium NR/BR truck tread compound and 27% better wet skid resistance. Recent mixing trials at Kraiburg’s production plant at 250kg scale confirm that the new mixing procedure for Ekoprena performs well in a factory environment.
Visitors to Tire Technology Expo will find TARRC on stand 6100. Doors to the show open February 10-12!
