Curing is used to give a tyre its final shape and tread pattern. It involves the chemical cross-linking of rubber and vulcanising agents, resulting in an elastomer. In the past, steam was typically used to create the heat and pressure needed for curing.
Steam has several disadvantages not limited to:
- including the high price of steam energy,
- handling difficulties,
- high maintenance effort,
- lack of flexibility in setting individual parameters,
- the need for additional protective antioxidants in some cases,
- the risk of quality impairment as a result of local overheating following condensation
The nitrogen alternative
To overcome these disadvantages, steam can be replaced with nitrogen as the pressure agent. Nitrogen is flexible and being inert gas, it keeps the system pressure at the desired level. In addition, nitrogen-based tyre press operators can choose the system pressure regardless of the curing temperature. By eliminating steam the risk of local overheating gets reduced, and less steam gets condensed in subsequent stages of the curing process.
To ensure the optimum supply system, safety precautions for your individual needs, and process parameters, our application engineers are happy to assist you with in-house trials and can also advise on optimising efficiency.
Benefits at a Glance
- Maximum availability and reliability
- Reduced production and maintenance costs
- Improved pressure stability and independent pressure setting
- Savings of up to 18% Cycle time.
- Extension of Up to 100% in bladder lifetime
- Improved quality for reduced scrap costs