AKRON—Chris Robertson, sales director and materials expert for Endurica L.L.C., is one of the nearly 50 presenters set to speak at the International Tire Exhibition & Conference, planned for Sept. 11-13 at the John S. Knight Center in Akron.
His presentation,"Rapid Method for Checking Potential for Long-Term Fatigue Performance of Tire Compounds," details how crack growth behavior can help to determine long-term fatigue performance of tires. He explains how a new rapid method can apply crack growth rates to fatigue threshold and tear strength to determine six decades of crack growth behavior.
In preparation for the program, Rubber & Plastics News asked Robertson to consider a few tire industry-related questions.
Q. What's the biggest challenge your customers are asking you to tackle today?
A. The major challenge from our customers is to accurately predict lifetime and failure mode for tires and other rubber applications. They use our integrated durability solutions to predict when and where cracks will show up in their products. Loading schedules and component geometries are becoming increasingly complex, so we are continually advancing our software and testing capabilities to meet the demanding requirements of our customers.
What trends are pushing your company to innovate?
The growing importance of the internet of things and digital twin technology resulted in our recent software innovation which is Endurica DT. Another trend is lightweighting to save energy and cost of materials, which is pushing us to demonstrate how our Endurica CL durability solver can work in combination with optimization tools in finite element simulations to guide the removal of material while maintaining durability.
