MOSCOW (MRC) -- German specialty chemicals company Lanxess, the world’s largest synthetic rubber supplier, and Korean Hankook Tire has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to co-develop synthetic rubber technologies for high-performance tire, according to Lanxess' press release.
Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly study the development of new high-performance synthetic rubber grades and applications that increase the performance of tires from early stages of product development.
Lanxess and Hankook Tire have maintained a close partnership since 2008, when Hankook Tire awarded Lanxess a long-term contract to supply solution styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) and neodymium performance butadiene rubber (Nd-PBR) - both core materials for high-performance tires. This newly established technical partnership is expected to further strengthen the ties between Lanxess and Hankook Tire.
The market for high-performance tires is showing a rapid rise due to increasing demand for premium tires and the introduction of tire labeling in South Korea, the European Union (EU) and Japan.
Lanxess provides high-performance synthetic rubbers to globally leading tire makers. Last October, the company launched two new easy-processing Nd-PBR rubber grades - Buna Nd 22 EZ and Buna Nd 24 EZ - aimed at the fast-growing high-performance tires market, especially in Asia.
As MRC wrote before, Lanxess is also currently building the world’s largest Nd-PBR manufacturing facility in Singapore and this is expected to come on stream in 2015. The USD200m plant is expected to produce 140,000 metric tonnes per annum (tpa) of Nd-PBR, which will be used in the treads and sidewalls of green tires. Nd-PBR will also be used for the modification of plastics in the manufacture of high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) for injection molding applications.
Hankook Tire (Vice Chairman & CEO: Seung Hwa Suh) is the leading and one of the fastest growing tire companies in the world. As a tire manufacturer dedicated to contributing to advancement in driving, Hankook Tire intensively invests in research and development via five R&D centers around the world.
Lanxess' Performance Butadiene Rubbers business unit (PBR) specializes in the production of versatile polybutadiene, high-performance solution styrene-butadiene (S-SBR) and neodymium-based performance butadiene rubbers (Nd-PBR). Its product portfolio also includes general-purpose E-SBR. This classic tire rubber remains one of the most widely used polymers available today. The business unit manufactures this elastomer with a cost-effective process that has been optimized over many decades. The PBR business unit is part of Lanxess' Performance Polymers segment.
Lanxess is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 9.1 billion in 2012. The company is currently represented at 50 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals.
MRC