Agenda

Henry He | General Manager, Materials Science and Engineering, Smithers

Tyre and Road Wear Particles (TRWP) remain among the most poorly monitored non-exhaust emission sources globally, yet fleet tyre management continues to rely on periodic manual inspection and scheduled replacement cycles that consistently fail to detect the early-stage wear anomalies responsible for disproportionate particulate generation. This monitoring gap is particularly acute for Battery Electric Vehicles, where higher torque loading and regenerative braking patterns accelerate tyre degradation beyond rates typical of conventional drivetrains — a challenge growing in relevance across Southeast Asia's rapidly expanding urban BEV markets. This paper proposes REAL-SENSE TYRE, a tri-modal passive sensing framework designed to deliver continuous tyre wear characterisation and remaining life assessment entirely within the existing vehicle envelope, requiring no tyre modification and no hardware beyond what modern vehicles already carry. Three sensing streams form the operational core. The first, Acoustic Groove Resonance (AGR), uses sound behaviour within tread grooves to estimate tread depth continuously and non-invasively through a single wheel-arch microphone. The second, Infrared Thermal Gradient Mapping (ITGM), reads thermal signatures across the tread face to flag inflation faults, misalignment, and uneven wear onset before visual evidence appears. The third leverages existing on-board Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) data — correlating pressure deviation history and thermal load — to build a cumulative stress index supporting Remaining Useful Life assessment at the individual tyre level. Together, these streams are designed to support wear pattern classification, lifecycle tracking, and emission risk monitoring aligned with Euro 7 and ESPR non-exhaust reporting frameworks. The paper presents the theoretical basis for each sensing modality, identifies specific research gaps addressed, and outlines a structured laboratory-to-fleet validation roadmap.

Prashant Eknath Vishe, Fatigue Test Laboratory & DVP Projects, International Centre for Automotive Technology(ICAT)
Shubham Saraswat, Vehicle Validation and Testing Professional, International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT)

Green tire technology was first introduced in Europe in the 1990s; however, progress toward broader sustainability adoption remained relatively slow in the early years. In recent times, evolving government regulations have significantly reshaped this landscape. As the tire industry increasingly commits to carbon neutrality and zero emission targets, sustainability has become a key strategic focus. In this context, the industry is intensifying efforts to adopt sustainable rubber raw materials, including responsible sourcing of natural rubber, compliance with regulations such as EUDR, development of alternatives to natural rubber, and replacement of conventional silica with rice husk–derived silica (RHS). Similarly, regulatory pressures are driving the search for eco friendly alternatives to conventional compounding ingredients such as 6PPD, DPG, and other environmentally sensitive materials. In this presentation, we focus on modified castor oil–based process aids for silica filled passenger tire tread compounds. The study evaluates their performance in formulations using rice husk silica, along with reduced dosages of ZnO, as part of an integrated approach toward sustainable compounding. The results demonstrate that castor oil–based process aids offer a promising and sustainable alternative to conventional zinc based process aids, while maintaining performance requirements relevant to passenger tire tread applications.
Dr. Abhijeet Anand | Deputy manager, Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT)

Given the huge volume of either production or consumption of tires, the tire industry has come to a state that its sustainable development is not avoidable. To achieve sustainability, the industry has put numerous efforts in developing materials that are either derived from recycled goods, or derived from bio-based sources. In our presentation, various options of adopting sustainable materials to reduce carbon footprint of tire were evaluated: recovered carbon black, bio-based filler, and activated rubber powder. The sustainable materials were applied to different tire formulations according to the nature of the materials and their performance. The sustainable percentage and and potential carbon footprint reduction were calculated and compared.  

It  is worth addressing that the feasibility of achieving lower carbon footprint by applying sustainable materials not only depend on the technical performance, but also influenced by economical feasibility and supply security. The challenge of achieving sustainability in tires is associated with all these aspects.
Calvin Xu | General Manager, RCEra

In rubber industry, fillers such as carbon black and precipitated silica have long been used to reinforce rubber matrices, enhancing mechanical strength, wear resistance, tear characteristics and dynamic properties. However, these conventional fillers are non-renewable, energy intensive to produce, and contribute significantly to environmental footprint of rubber products, particularly automotive applications such as tyres. The global demand for environmentally sustainable and high-performance material has spurred extensive research into renewable resources that can serve as alternative to traditional fillers. Cellulose, the most abundant natural polymer on Earth, has emerges as promising green alternative to synthetic fillers in rubber compounding. Researchers are exploring the reinforcing characteristics of various forms of cellulose like micro-crystalline cellulose, nano cellulose crystals and nano cellulose fibers for rubber compounds. Among the synthetic rubbers, SBR rubber is of particular interest due to its critical role in high performance tyres. In this, we have studied the effect of micro cellulose incorporation on filler dispersion, processing characteristics, mechanical properties, dynamic mechanical behavior, fatigue and crack propagation resistance, as well as abrasion and cut and chip resistance were systematically investigated. Micro cellulose was introduced through partial replacement of carbon black and silica at 5 and 10phr, and through on top addition to the base formulation. Additionally, the incorporation of the methylene donor hexamethoxymethylmelamine (HMMM) significantly improved filler dispersion and resulted in approximately 10% enhancement in key physical properties of micro cellulose based SBR compounds. While on top addition increased stiffness, it adversely affected cut and chip resistance. The results demonstrate that up to 10phr micro cellulose can be incorporated cost-effectively with appropriate coupling system, enabling partial replacement of petroleum-based fillers while maintaining acceptable tyre performance.
JIJU C M | Truck Bus Radial Product Development - R & D Asia, APOLLO TYRES LTD.

The depletion of fossil resources and the climate change represent two of the greatest challenges nowadays. Increasingly stringent regulations promote the development of alternative and sustainable materials. Several challenges need to be tackled. Beside the price and availability of the alternative materials, their compatibility with other components of a rubber compound and the resulting reduction in in-rubber properties have to be taken into account. It will be presented which substitutions are already possible and where still limitations exist.
Prof. Dr. Anke Blume | Full Professor, Head of research group Elastomer Technology and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering , University of Twente

Nicolas Tissier | Research Director, Tire Industry Project, World Business Council for Sustainable Development