Sumitomo Leverages AI Technology to Improve Tire Performance

Japanese tire manufacturer, Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) has announced that it has managed to leverage artificial intelligence to improve rubber technology so that tires are more long lasting. Called “Tyre Leap AI Analysis”, the new technology is positioned as a “groundbreaking” rubber technology that could contribute significantly to extending the life of a tire. The new technology involves usage of real-world data regarding key parameters related to the compounded rubber so that Sumitomo’s technicians can predict the outcome of the use of a particular rubber compound.

According to Sumitomo, the Tyre Leap AI Analysis technology will analyze compounded rubber, which includes components like natural/synthetic rubber polymers, carbon black or silica-based reinforcing agents, cross linking agents and additives. The AI comes in for the evaluation of the different “interlocking” factors related to these components and the structures that they form jointly. The combined data of a rubber compound will also yield precise estimates of its associated rubber properties. AI can far exceed human capability when it comes to such analysis as in the case of high precision analysis of electron microscope imagery of tire rubber compounds. This makes estimates of rubber properties from structural data found in the imagery more accurate.

The new technology also gives scientists the capability to detect structural changes that occur during use by comparing used and unused rubber, thus further extending the limits to which rubber could be analyzed.