TOKYO—Sumitomo Rubber Industries plans to develop new products using its large-scale molecular dynamics simulation technology for tire rubber materials.
In development since 2012, the technology clarifies the effect of the bonding method between silica added to the rubber material and the coupling agent on the strength of the rubber material, Sumitomo said in a Sept. 16 release.
The project uses data processing power offered by the supercomputer "K computer," which is based on the high-performance computing infrastructure (HPCI) platform. It has received the HPCI's "excellent achievement award for utilization research projects."
As a result of the project, Sumitomo said it was able to improve wear resistance of rubber.
"In the future, we will utilize the results of this simulation in the development of new rubber materials and products," the company said.
In order to develop tires with higher safety and reduced environmental impact, Sumitomo said it was looking to use the supercomputer "Tomitake," which will succeed the "K computer" in 2021.
HPCI is a shared computational environment which connects major supercomputers as well as storages of universities and research institutions in Japan via high speed networks.
SRI's "large-scale molecular dynamics simulation of rubber materials for tires" project has won the 7th HPCI top honor for utilization research projects. The awards will be announced in an online ceremony on Oct. 29.
