According to the National Academy of Sciences, about 80 to 88% of the energy in a vehicle’s gasoline tank is wasted in various thermal, frictional, and standby losses in the engine and exhaust system. This leaves only about 12 to 20% of the potential energy actually converted to vehicle motion. One of the key ways to improve that efficiency is to reduce the rolling resistance of vehicle tires. The new EU tire labeling came into force in November 2012 and classifies tires due to their rolling resistance, wet traction behavior and noise. A significant improvement of the rolling resistance and the wet traction can be reached by using such a silica/silane system instead of carbon black. Therefore, an “A/A” classification in the EU tire labeling can only be reached by using the silica/silane system in the tire tread according to present knowledge. The objective of LCS is to deep understanding about the interaction between functionalized silica and rubbers. Such information on the molecular stage interaction between silica/silane and rubber allows proposing more performed systems which improve the properties of the final products. This work is in collaboration with Evonik-Degussa, an international leader in this field.
