German tire giant Continental and Tier 1 supplier Kordsa have announced that series production of the first 250,000 passenger car tires featuring their sustainable RF-free (resorcinol and formaldehyde) adhesive began in 2019.
The two have been working together on this new eco-friendly dip technology since 2017. Coined Cokoon, the technology provides bonding activation of textile reinforcing materials with rubber compounds without the use of resorcinol and formaldehyde in the textile dip.
“The sampling process was a big success and exceeded our expectations. Feedback from the industry encouraged us to proceed with the integration of Cokoon into our tires and to begin series production of the first tires in 2019. Expanding use of the Cokoon technology into tire production in 2020 and in the following years is a high priority for us,” said Dr Andreas Topp, vice president of material, process development and industrialization at Continental Tires.
Cokoon is available license-free and according to Continental and Kordsa, has attracted a lot of attention from the industry since this was announced in March 2019. More than 40 companies, including tire manufacturers, converters and textile suppliers, have expressed an interest in testing the material.
Some 20 of these have already received samples. All of the interested parties have been invited to join the licensing pool and obtain free licensing in order to contribute to the development of the technology. Licensees are expected to make any new patents available to the other partners free of charge. The licensing pool is handled by independent law firm AdvInno. Interested companies can request samples or find out more online at www.cokoon.com.
Devrim Özaydin, global technology director at Kordsa, said, “With Cokoon we want to implement an eco-friendly industry-wide standard for bonding textiles and rubber. We therefore invite all interested parties to join the pool, obtain free licensing, contribute to the enhancement of this new open technology and introduce Cokoon into mass production.”
Kordsa will be exhibiting at Tire Technology Expo 2020 (Booth C422).
