QINGDAO, China—Mesnac controlled Ecombine Advanced Materials has plans to expand capacity for for wet-mixed compounds using liquid synthetic rubber, and will add facilities in Qingdao to do so.
Another Mesnac affiliate, EVE Rubber Institute, developed the material, but Ecombine facilitated the commercialization process, Mesnac said in a statement.
Tires made with such compounds—dubbed EVE rubber—can meet European Union tire label's class A standards in wet grip and meet class B standards in rolling resistance, said Mesnac. The materials also can improve abrasion resistance by 20 percent on average compared with conventional tires.
More than 200,000 unit passenger car tires have been made with such compounds and supplied to Chinese and overseas automobile makers. They outperform original equipment tires in a range of parameters, according to Mesnac.
Mesnac also claims the material can markedly boost the performance of all season tires, raising abrasion resistance by up to 40 percent and lowering rolling resistance by 30 percent. The material also can improve a tire's ice performance on ice, according to Mesnac.
The project is expected to sell $1.36 billion worth of the rubber material when fully operational.