A New Non-Toxic, Environmentally Friendly Replacement for Resorcinol-Formaldehyde Latex Dip

For decades Resorcinol-Formaldehyde Latex (RFL) dip has been the industry standard to promote binding of reinforcement materials to rubber. In June 2014 formaldehyde was confirmed to be a class 1B carcinogenic substance. This will trigger legal decisions that most likely will restrict the use of formaldehyde in the EU at large, pushing for the introduction of non-toxic technical alternatives to RFL-dip. The talk will present Glanzstoff Industries contribution to this tire industry wide challenge. As a major European based multi-material converter, the development-focus is on a universal Resorcinol-Formaldehyde (RF) free dipping systems working on aramids as well as rayon, the major carcass material in UHP tires. New analytical methods developed like Liquid Chromatography coupled with Time of Flight Mass spectrometry (LC-TOF/MS) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the mechanistic aspects of the new approach.