Kordsa and Continental Produce Environmentally Friendly Tires

First tires produced with Cokoon adhesion technology jointly developed by Kordsa and Continental to hit the road

Technology company and premium tire manufacturer Continental, together with Kordsa, a global player in tire, construction reinforcement and composite technologies markets, announced today that serial production of 250,000 passenger car tires manufactured with the new sustainable adhesion technology began in 2019. The two strong partners have been working on this new environmentally friendly adhesion technology since 2017. This new technology enables the adhesion of textile reinforcement materials to rubber-based compounds without the use of resorcinol and formaldehyde. Textile reinforcement materials are commonly used in tire production and in the manufacturing of mechanical rubber products such as hoses and conveyor belts. Following its first announcement as an open innovation technology in March 2019, Cokoon generated significant interest in the sector. More than 40 companies (tire manufacturers, tire fabric producers and textile suppliers) indicated they wanted to test the material and consider joining the licensing pool. To date, approximately 20 of these companies have received product samples. Kordsa and Continental invite all interested parties to join the pool and obtain free licenses to further develop this green technology. The licensing pool is managed by independent law firm AdvInno. Dr. Andreas Topp, Vice President of Material and Process Development and Industrialization at Continental Tires, stated: "The sample process was quite successful and applications exceeded our expectations. This positive feedback from the sector encouraged us to continue with the integration of Cokoon technology into our tires and move to serial production of the first tires in 2019. Expanding the use of Cokoon technology in our tire production in 2020 and beyond is among the priorities we have set." Devrim Özaydın, Technology Director at Kordsa Global, explained the objectives with Cokoon technology, saying "With Cokoon, we want to create an environmentally friendly industry standard for adhesion of textile and rubber. For this reason, we invite all relevant parties to join the pool, obtain free licenses, contribute to the development of this new open technology and use Cokoon in their serial production."

Environmentally friendly adhesion technology free of resorcinol and formaldehyde

Cokoon is the brand of a new adhesion technology offered as an open-source solution to all other tire manufacturers and suppliers. R&D partners Continental and Kordsa, waiving development or license fees, expect free license holders joining the licensing pool to make their patents available free of charge to other partners through this licensing pool to further develop this technology. Interested companies can request samples. Before Cokoon, there was no alternative to resorcinol and formaldehyde chemicals that could be used in place of adhesion of textile reinforcement materials to the rubber matrix surrounding them. Replacing resorcinol and formaldehyde with a more environmentally friendly alternative provides advantages not only for a sustainable supply chain, but also for cord fabric manufacturers. It is also worth noting that workers in tire factories and end users are not harmed by these two chemically transformed substances during the vulcanization process. With Cokoon technology, adhesion of textile products to rubber is now possible without these two chemicals, and no changes to technical equipment are required.