Advanced Materials for
Tire Reinforcement
Steve Sherriff
Clemson Tire Conference 20 April 2017
DuraFiber Technologies Global Headquarters
13620 Reese Boulevard, Suite 400
Huntersville, NC 28078
Abstract
Textile reinforcement of balloon tires has been
necessary since their inception. In current
generations of radial tires for passenger and light
truck tires, textile reinforcement represents 3-5% of
the weight of the tire. Given its low content in the tire
and its critical role in the tire, why are we stuck in the
20th century? What is the outlook for new textile
reinforcements? Can the current barriers of low
margin and risk adverse industries be addressed?
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A continuing legacy
•  Durafiber represents a long commitment to textile
reinforcement for tires.
–  ICI Celanese Hoechst
–  First producer of conventional PET for tires
–  Inventor and first producer of HMLS
–  Inventor and producer of Vectran fiber (developed for tires)
–  AA spin finish
–  Allied Signal
–  Beltec (compounded polymer)
–  First commercial practice of double dip adhesive technology
–  Production of higher tenacity PET
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TEXDURATM - Our Portfolio
“Durable Technical Textiles”
www.durafibertech.com
TEXDURA™-HP
TEXDURATM–HT
• 
HighTenacityandUltra-highTenacityyarns,cords,
andFabrics
–  Tire–T792,T793(AA),1X50,1H75,4G
–  Industrial–T785,T800,T1W70,789
–  SewingThread–T712
–  HighTenacityNylonyarns,cords,andfabrics
TEXDURATM-XT
• 
• 
TCFwithhightemplongover-cureadhesionpkg.
HighTenacityYarns/Cordswithproprietaryfinishes
–  AdvancedAdhesionSystems
–  Seagard®-OffShoreMooring
–  Lowik®–ResistancetoMould...RoofingFabrics
TEXDURATM–NX
• 
Nylonreplacementforoverlayandbodyplyin\res
withadvancedadhesion
Highermodulus,ultralowshrinkageHMLSforrayon
likeperformance
HighPerformanceyarns,cordsandfabrics
HYBRIDS-StepChangeTenacity,Modulus,Thermalyarns,
cordsandfabricsforTireandIndustrialApplica\ons
(AR-PET,AR-Nylon,PEN-PET,etc.)
•  PEEK(Highthermal&chemicalresistance)
(HighTenacityPEEKfibers,yarnsandfabrics)
•  PPS(Highchemicalresistance)
(HighTenacityPPSfibers,yarnsandfabrics)
TEXDURA™-FX
• 
HighTenacityFunc\onalYarns
•  CLR(Solu\ondyedvibrantcolors)
•  iFR(InherentlyFireRetardantyarns) •  PBT(StretchandRecovery)
TEXDURA™-ECO
• 
TEXDURATM–RT
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
SustainabilitySolu\ons
Bio-BasedPolymers
RecycleContent
SustainableDipSystems DFTDuraFiberTechnologies,Inc.ProprietaryandConfiden=al
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Tire Reinforcement Life Cycles
250
200
Ktons
150
100
PET
50
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1990
1980
1970
1960
1950
1940
1930
1920
Year
1910
0
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Why Hasn’t HMLS RFL Treated
Fabric Been Replaced
My boss in 1992 when we were working on new
reinforcements said :
“A tire company is unwilling to pay more than $3.00/lb
for anything.”
Then we were selling yarn for treated fabric prices of today.
I’m not sure it has changed. ($3 inflated to today is $5.22)
I recognize there are specialty reinforcements ($$) for
technical or marketing reasons which are used in small
quantities.
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Cost versus benefit--The Story of PEN
•  Polyethylene Naphthalate – next generation polyester
(1990): higher strength, higher modulus, lower shrinkage,
higher glass transition temperature.
•  Can use existing polymer production
•  Can be produced on current spinning/drawing machines with
modest investment
•  New monomer plant in US! Instead of only Asian supply.
•  Sounds Great!
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From a 2006 Presentation
•  PEN has been demonstrated as an improved (versus
PET) carcass reinforcement by all major tire companies.
•  GY & Michelin have confirmed at 2X PET pricing it would
replace a large portion of current PET volume and some
rayon volume.
•  Primary barrier to lower cost fiber is cost of
naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylic acid
•  Current largest scale monomer plant is 100MM lbs (BP &
Mitsubishi)
•  Estimated to require economics of 1 billion lb monomer
plant to reduce cost
•  Interest from resins and films is strong, but again
monomer price is stumbling block for large scale use
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Price – Volume Relationship
Market Volume (MMLB)
10000
1000
100
10
1
0.1
1
10
100
1000
Average Price ($/LB)
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Paying for Performance
▲ PEEK
▲ LCP
▲ PPS
▲ PBI
~ $100M Opp.
Performance
▲ Aramid
•  PEN
Hybrids à
ß$1.3B Opp.
▲ Rayon
•  Texdura HT
•  Texdura XT
•  Texdura RT
•  PET
▲ N6
1
2
▲ N66
ß$5.5B Opp.
3
6
10
12
100
Cost
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Same Song Different Verse
•  Bi-benzoic
•  PEN-Bi-benzoic
•  M5-T improved nylon and others
•  PEEK- polyether ether ketone
•  POK - polyketone
•  Bi-component fibers
•  Polymer blends
•  Nano-composites
•  And the list goes on and on
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The Barrier of Security of supply
•  Tire Companies require two sources of supply
– Bad things happen to good suppliers
– Purchasing leverage
– Need assurance from the beginning
•  Licensing with issues of not invented here
– Other textile suppliers, can I work around? It takes time.
– Unwilling to pay to royalties
– Tire companies have had aggressive patent strategies
•  2nd supplier unwilling to invest without commitments
– Textiles are low return investments
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Lawyers have boat payments too!
The Barrier of having to defend yourself
•  Tires prematurely removed from service (can’t say failed)
–  Result
-  Extreme vetting
-  Long qualifications
-  Need to re-tool
•  Fear of patent ligation
–  Result
-  Overly broad interpretation (CYA for lawyer)
-  Exclusivity-Lead time (one supplier and one customer => risk)
-  Novel material – product patent
-  Novel process – process patent
-  Novel result – application patent
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Different Song same ending
•  Request from tire customer: “Give us a solution for static
build up.”
•  Looked for solution from other applications. Found one!
•  Adapted it for tires. Little cost increase. Works in tires!
•  Another tire company has patent for totally different
performance reason with totally different materials (no static
dissipation.)
•  Tire company unwilling to implement based on possible
patent conflict. Result was no business for us – no solution
for customer complaint.
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The Barrier of Risk Taking
•  The fiber producer (with low margins) want a take or pay
contract for fiber only produced developmentally. With a
contract in hand they can justify investment to install assets
and negotiate contracts. They can not take the body blow if
it goes no where.
•  The tire company will not commit without a “bird in the hand”
•  Finance does not like promises (with qualifiers) or believe in
the mantra of “If you build it they will come”.
•  Can private ownership take the risk that corporations will
not?
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The Barrier of Technology budgets
•  Which gets cut first in commodity market?
–  Manufacturing head count (work harder, not smarter)
–  Quality and laboratory head count
–  Technology head count (what value are the providing?)(They
are hole into which we are pouring money.) It’s all about cash
baby.
•  The previous “advanced” reinforcements have come from
technology/manufacturing companies and from central
research..
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The Barrier of Core Competency
•  Tire companies have largely defined their core business as
tires and rubber (how many technologists in each area).
•  Tire companies who were once involved in manufacturing
textiles:
–  Goodyear - Dunlop
–  Michelin – Uniroyal - BFG
–  Cooper
•  Tire companies who have looked to exit, but haven’t:
–  Bridgestone
–  Continental
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Summary
• Anybody willing to step up to the plate and take a
swing?
• Do you have an idea for me? I need a good idea to
finish out my career.
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Make America Great Again
•  Wouldn’t it be great if?
–  There was a way to make aromatic monomers inexpensively
–  There was a way to separate the fiber out of crumb rubber
-  Adhesive which can be reversed
–  There was a way to get adhesion without resorcinol
formaldehyde latex treating
–  There was a way to get all the strength and modulus out of a
fiber (no twisting).
–  There was an innovation which allowed single end cords to
cost the same as fabric
–  There was a way no textiles were needed (NOT)
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