Today's News
New polymer Fridays webinar series from the Rubber Divsion
Whether you are new to the rubber industry or a seasoned professional looking to sharpen your edge, Polymer Fridays from the Rubber Division, ACS, is designed to strengthen your technical foundation and expand your confidence.
Over ten weeks, you will build a clearer understanding of how major polymer families compare, where they perform best and how their chemistry drives real world application decisions.
Maxam Tire promotes Eric Appleby to national account sales director
MAXAM Tire announced the promotion of Eric Appleby to National Account Sales Director, effective immediately. In this role, Appleby will lead Maxam’s national account strategy across North America, focusing on accelerating growth, deepening dealer partnerships, and delivering value-driven solutions to our customers.
REP obtains ISO 14001 certification
Following a successful audit in December 2025, REP is now officially ISO 14001 certified.
This certification is an international benchmark in environmental management and also meets the high expectations of REP’s customers, who are more and more attentive to the environmental commitments of their industrial partners.
Firestone Racing to introduce Enliten technology in IndyCar Firehawk race tires
Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) announced that Firestone Racing will usher in the 2026 INDYCAR season with Firehawk race tires that integrate Bridgestone global ENLITEN™ Technology. Beginning at this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, both the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT by Firestone will compete on race tires that demonstrate the power of the sustainability-focused suite of technologies.
Apollo Tyres honors women changemakers at the 7th edition of ‘EK NAAM’
Apollo Tyres honored eight outstanding women entrepreneurs at the 7th edition of ‘EK NAAM,’ its flagship initiative celebrating and empowering grassroots women leaders. These changemakers, through their leadership and resilience, have transformed communities and advanced inclusive development.
Spring Technical Meeting symposium to highlight elastomer nanocomposites
The Rubber Division ACS Spring Technical Meeting Symposium will highlight “Reinforcement Effects in Elastomer Nanocomposites: Experimental & Modeling Insights.” This symposium is organized and chaired by Chris Robertson, Principal Consultant at Polymer Technology Services LLC, this symposium explores the fundamental mechanisms governing reinforcement, dissipation and failure in nanoparticle-filled elastomers across strain, temperature and deformation regimes. Combining experiments, scattering, rheology and molecular simulations, the presentations highlight intrinsic performance tradeoffs and offer design principles for advanced rubber and tire materials.
Featured
Mixing
Simulation of rubber formulation development using AI-Graf Compounder
Integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into rubber compound development is said to mark a transformative step in materials science, and the authors explore the use of AIGraf Compounder software to simulate and optimize rubber formulations. By leveraging feedforward neural networks, the system can predict material properties based on ingredient compositions.
Chemicals and Materials
Arlanxeo brings new Therban HNBR plant online in China
ARLANXEO inaugurated its new Therban® hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (“HNBR”) plant in Changzhou, China. The new plant supports expanding ARLANXEO’s HNBR production footprint and its ability to deliver reliable, high-quality elastomer solutions to customers across China and the Asia-Pacific region, while helping meet the growing demand for advanced rubber materials in strategic sectors, such as new energy, new mobility, and other industrial applications.
Extrusion
Freudenberg Sealing Technologies unveils new extrusion process using molten salt
The specific properties of vulcanized materials make them essential for many areas of application. In industries such as aerospace, food and beverages and the energy sector, components must meet the highest standards of abrasion and chemical resistance, elasticity, and durability. Delivering top-quality solutions in these areas requires excellent materials expertise, and at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies this goes hand in hand with state-of-the-art production technologies: With LCM (Liquid Curing Method), the company is now commissioning an advanced vulcanizing extrusion line. This is a process in which the fluid used for vulcanization consists of molten salt, heated to around 200 degrees Celsius and filled with vulcanizing salt. The entire line operates in a closed loop, in which the salt is continuously recycled, fed back into the process and reused.
Silicone & Medical
Electrically conductive silicones for enclosure-level EMI shielding
By Dominic Testo, Specialty Silicone Products – Electromagnetic interference (EMI) is a naturally occurring orhuman caused phenomenon that degrades or
Oil, Gas & Energy
Penn State researchers develop high temperature polymer capacitor
In the race to lighter, safer and more efficient electronics — from electric vehicles to transcontinental energy grids — one component literally holds the power: the polymer capacitor. Seen in such applications as medical defibrillators, polymer capacitors are responsible for quick bursts of energy and stabilizing power rather than holding large amounts of energy, as opposed to the slower, steadier energy of a battery. However, current state-of-the-art polymer capacitors cannot survive beyond 212 degrees Fahrenheit (F), which the air around a typical car engine can hit during summer months and an overworked data center can surpass on any given day.
Testing & Instruments
Wire cord measurement sensor for tire calenders
Wire cord measurement sensors provide a highly reliable, high-resolution method for evaluating the geometry of steel reinforced rubber sheets in real time.
Molding
Electrically conductive silicones for enclosure-level EMI shielding
By Dominic Testo, Specialty Silicone Products – Electromagnetic interference (EMI) is a naturally occurring orhuman caused phenomenon that degrades or
Thermoplastic Elastomers & Urethanes
Fraunhofer scientists develop safer method to produce polyurethane without toxic isocyanates
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (IAP) have developed a new method for producing polyurethane without the use of toxic isocyanates, a key ingredient traditionally required in the manufacture of the widely used polymer.
Latex and Natural Rubber
Sustainable materials for rubber and allied industries
Sustainability is no longer a new concept; it has become a global priority. While quality was the focus of the 1980s, globalization defined the 1990s, and the internet revolutionized the 2000s. The 2010s and after have been dominated by the idea of sustainability. Human survival depends on integrating sustainable practices into every aspect of life. The world is already witnessing alarming environmental changes: rising greenhouse gas emissions, depletion of non-renewable resources and widespread deforestation.
The January Issue of Rubber World
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This issue focuses on
Testing and Instruments
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