Get rid of import dependence! High-performance tire rubber materials are mass-produced in Shandong
China is the world's largest tire producer and consumer, and Shandong Province is the largest province in the country for tire production, with production capacity accounting for more than half of the country. Recently, a major breakthrough declared China's self-sufficiency in the field of high-performance tire rubber materials. Domestic high-performance tire rubber materials have been successfully mass-produced in Shandong, no longer subject to others. This achievement has led to the innovative development of my country's tire manufacturing technology, and also played a positive role in promoting the development of my country's tire industry.
Domestic substitution, breaking the international monopoly
It is understood that solution-polymerized styrene butadiene rubber is one of the research contents of Wang Qinggang, director of the Catalytic Polymerization and Engineering Research Center of the Qingdao Institute of Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences. It can not only improve the anti-skid and safety of tires, but also reduce rolling resistance and fuel consumption. Unfortunately, my country's high-performance solution-polymerized styrene butadiene rubber is almost completely dependent on imports, and has been clearly listed as a "neck-stuck" technical product in my country by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
In response to this situation, Wang Qinggang led his team to develop a new material of iron-based combed styrene butadiene rubber for more than 8 years, solving this problem.
In 2023, he led the team to complete the production demonstration of 75,000 high-performance tires, proving that the iron-based combed styrene-butadiene rubber tires have excellent anti-skid performance, shortened the braking distance by nearly 10%, and reduced the rolling resistance by about 5%. At the same time, the product cost is also effectively reduced. In February 2024, he led the team to take a big step forward and built a production line with real production capacity.
The advent of iron-based combed styrene-butadiene rubber fills the domestic gap. At present, the material has been applied on a large scale in many leading tire companies, proving its commercial value and technical feasibility.
Looking back on the research and development process, Lv Xuefeng, director of the Qingdao Institute of Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that this research looked for topics from the industry. When selecting the project topic, he had many in-depth exchanges with the Rubber Industry Association and more than a dozen leading tire companies, and finally decided to tackle the problem of heavy reliance on imports of solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber.
New materials effectively reduce automobile energy consumption
In layman's terms, if a vehicle is traveling at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour and needs to brake urgently in an emergency, the braking distance of traditional tires will be more than 100 meters, and the braking distance of tires with new materials will be reduced to less than 80 meters; when the vehicle is driving on the highway, the fuel consumption of a vehicle using traditional tires is 7 liters per 100 kilometers, and the fuel consumption of new material tires can be reduced to less than 6.5 liters; for new energy vehicles, there will be a longer range. In addition, the material also has excellent wet braking performance and grip, which can provide a more stable and safe driving experience.
The research results won the "Final Excellence Award" of the 2021 National First Disruptive Technology Innovation Competition; won the "Final Winning Award" of the 2022 Chinese Academy of Sciences Future Technology Innovation Competition; was selected for the 2023 Sinopec 40th Anniversary Science and Technology Achievement Exhibition; passed the scientific and technological achievement appraisal organized by the China Petrochemical Federation, and the experts of the appraisal committee believed that it reached the "international advanced" level.
Achieve 10,000-ton industrialized production in Shandong
At present, iron-based combed butyl rubber has achieved 10,000-ton industrialized production in Shandong, manufacturing more than 100 tons of rubber products, and has been applied on a large scale in leading tire companies.