Date: Jan 20, 2014 Author: press release Source: Area Development (
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Lehigh Technologies Inc., a sustainable materials company, strengthened its state-of-the-art research and development capabilities by "investing significantly" in new mixing and analytical equipment for its Application and Development Center in Atlanta, Georgia. This expansion enables Lehigh to drive further adoption of its sustainable micronized rubber powder material in green tire applications, the company said.
"The global green tire market is expected to grow significantly over the next five years," said Alan Barton, CEO of Lehigh Technologies with headquarters in Tucker, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta. "Lehigh has positioned itself to support this growth by establishing best-in-class research and development facilities and a strong technical team. These latest expansions are an important part of that strategy and will reinforce peer-level technical relationships with major tire companies."
Along with expansion of the technology team the company said, "Lehigh has made significant investments in advanced silica-silane mixing and dynamic mechanical analysis capabilities. The new internal mixing unit was custom-built to Lehigh specifications and includes precision speed and temperature control as well as capability for mixing high viscosity silica-silane-SBR compounds. The new DMA is a Metravib model DMA+ 1000. The capabilities of this state-of-the-art unit include measurement of predictive parameters critical to green tire performance such as rolling resistance, traction, and handling under a wide range of conditions."
"Having advanced mixing and DMA testing capabilities is critical to the development of functional materials based on MRP," said Tom Rosenmayer, Lehigh's Vice President of Technology. "Among its peers, Lehigh is unique in having this capability in-house, enabling us to work more efficiently with our customers to develop innovative solutions to meet their needs."
MRPs lower costs, increase the sustainability profile of end products and deliver performance without sacrificing the reliability and performance offered by traditional raw materials. Lehigh's customer base already includes five of the top ten tire companies in the world, and more than 250 million tires have been manufactured using its MRP technology, company officials said.
