Lifecycle of TiresSubject Code-MA 406

AuthorsRoll No. Student Name

681/MP/12 Sourav Modi

662/MP/12 Rahul Yadav

649/MP/12 Krishan Yadav

674/MP/12 Shivam Saraswat

Submitted to:-Sanjay GuptaAssistant ProfessorNetaji Subhas Institute of Technology

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Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………………..3

Tire Type……………………………………………………………………………6

Tire Composition……………………………………………………………….7

Raw Materials Used………………………………………………………….10

Design Concepts………………………………………………………………..14

Tire Manufacturing Process……………………………………………….20

Indian Tire Market……………………………………………………………..25

Financial Analysis of MRF Tires…………………………………………..27

Recycling of Worn Tires………………………………………………………31

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INTRODUCTIONTires are the only point of contact of the vehicle with the road. The intentions of the driver are finally executed by the tires only, hence the quality and design of the tires is important. The rubber tube inflated with air supports the whole weight of the car, but the rubber tube cannot directly come in contact with the road as it cannot resist wear and it lacks strength. Tire encases the rubber tube. Tires must perform a certain number of functions for the smooth functioning of the vehicle namely- steering, carrying a load, cushioning, rolling, transmitting drive and long lasting life. Steering: Tires should steer the vehicle with precision irrespective of surface of the road, weather conditions. The stability of a vehicle's path depends upon ability of tire to hold its course by maintaining proper traction with the road. It should stand up to transversal forces without drifting from its path.

Carrying load: Tires should carry lot of weight usually more 50 times its own weight not only when it is in motion but also at rest. Car usually weighs around 1.6 tones and the area of contact of a single tire with road is size of a post card. Hence each tire experiences a compressive stresses of the order of few MPa.

Cushioning: Tires absorb the shock due to obstacles or irregularities present on the surface of the road, providing a comfort travel to the passenger as well as ensuring long life of the vehicle. The main characteristic of tire is its ability to yield when stress is applied and return to its original shape when stress is removed, with the tire lasts, or in other words, keeps its optimum performance level for millions of wheel revolutions. The tire’s wear depends on its conditions of use (load, speed, condition of the road surface, state of the vehicle, style of driving, etc.) but above all the quality of its contact with the ground. Pressure therefore plays a major role. e stress cycle occurring at very high frequencies.

Transmitting Drive: Tires transmit drive namely the engine's usable power, braking effort with the help of the friction. Superior quality and efficient design of the tire helps in making complete use of engine's power and braking facility.

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Long Lasting Life: Tires should be able to give optimum performance for millions of revolutions. Life of a tire depends on a variety of factors like quality of contact with the road, load, speed, driving style etc. Most of the functions of tyre can be achieved with proper maintenance of air pressure. Hence ability to hold air without allowing it to diffuse is important.

In the tire industry, there are few manufacturers that have distinguished themselves sufficiently to create brand recognition, which could influence the consumer purchasing decision. A large percentage of tire purchase decisions are made by the retail salesman, not by the customer, which is unique in this industry. Given the general level of disinterest by consumers, product launches of new tires are often timed to coincide with more broad-reaching consumer events like automobile shows or motorsports exhibitions.

After more than a hundred years of experience, consumer replacement tire purchasing remains a grudge purchase that takes place every two or three years (depending on vehicle and usage), and is thereafter promptly forgotten; despite the best efforts of billions of dollars of marketing by the world's tire manufacturers. The problem from a marketing standpoint is that tires are, to an untrained and disinterested eye, virtually indistinguishable from each other. In addition, creating a call to action is truly difficult, given the typical two to three year purchase cycle. Only upon close inspection can one determine the brand and model of a tire, apart from enthusiasts who might also recognize the tread pattern. Even then, there are few manufacturers that have distinguished themselves sufficiently to create brand recognition, which could be used to shape the consumer purchasing decision. This is the first challenge of new product launches in the replacement tire market. Few consumers are ready for a purchase at any given launch time, and even fewer of them will care about that purchase.

The second challenge is making new out of something that rarely is new in the consumer's eyes. From the invention of the first pneumatic rubber tire in 1887 by John Boyd Dunlop, there have been only a few innovations that captured the interest of the widespread buying public. The development of synthetic rubber compounds by Bayer in the 1920s was certainly a critical advance in tire

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technology, but probably was as useful a sales-driver then as they are today. To be sure, there have been exceptions. Nokia claims the development of the first winter tire in 1934, which gave rise to an entire Winter Tire segment of development, sales, and advertising. 1946 was a particularly fertile year for tire development: Michelin invented the radial ply tire (the construction type that has all but monopolized modern tire building), and BF Goodrich invented the tubeless tire. BF Goodrich is also credited with introducing the first tire marketed as "all-season" in the late 1970s. There have also been fads along the way - whitewalls, white raised letters, colored wear indicators, and even flavored smoke for tires intended for burnouts and drifting. For the most part, these innovations impacted only the very smallest subsets of the buying public. New tires are as black and as round (ideally) as their predecessors, and the implicit performance improvements are largely left to retailers to convey to buyers. Thus, new product launches are events that generally impact distributors and retailers more directly than consumers.

Although there are exceptions (Goodyear being the most notable in North America), few tire manufacturers make direct-to-consumer distribution a substantial element of their strategy. However, as in many other industries, distribution is channeled to large-scale distributors who in turn distribute to wholesalers, who in turn distribute to retail groups, who in turn distribute to merchants and ultimately consumers. Given the level of consumer apathy towards tire purchasing, tire manufacturers focus much of their marketing efforts engaging members further up the supply chain. And with good reason: "80% of tire purchase decisions are made by the salesman, not the customer" is somewhat unique in the tire business, and has been frequently corroborated. The goal for a new product introduction is therefore to create a package - the product and supporting marketing and distribution - that will ultimately appeal to retailers on all the right levels

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Tire TypeWhat type of tires are customers looking for?

The answer to this question will depend on vehicle and driving conditions.

For comfort and handling...Touring tires help provide excellent dependability on wet and dry pavement. They offer a balance of smooth and quiet ride with performance handling.

For driving a sports car or looking for handling and performance...High-performance tires are designed for use at higher speeds in dry and wet weather. They have a softer rubber compound for improved grip, especially on high-speed cornering.*

For driving a pick-up truck or an SUV...Light truck tires help provide durability and traction in adverse off-road conditions. On the flip side, SUV tires are ideal for on-road, comfort-tuned SUV applications.

For a commercial vehicle...Commercial light truck tires are designed to handle driving through dirt, mud and everyday wear and tear from commercial applications.

Winter tires are designed to perform in cold, icy, wet and snowy weather. They are optimized for handling and traction under wet conditions, but can be used in dry conditions as well.

Most automobile tires are all-season tires. These tires satisfy the needs of most road conditions. They have the deep water channels for wet traction, but also harder rubber compound for greater tire life in warm weather.

Off-road tires are ideal for drivers who take their vehicle off the road and do limited on-road driving. These tires have stiffer sidewalls for greater resistance against puncture when traveling off-road. The tread pattern offers wider spacing than an all-season tire to help remove mud from the tread.

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COMPOSITION

Tire is a composite structure consisting of many layers. They usually consist of 1. Inner liner 2. Body ply 3. Side wall 4. Beads, Apex 5. Belt Package 6. Tread 7. Cushion Gum.

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Inner Liner It is an extruded halobutyl rubber sheet compounded with additives that result in low air permeability. The inner liner assures that the tire will hold high-pressure air inside, without the air gradually diffusing through the rubber structure.

Body Ply The body ply is a calendered sheet (two or more sheets are rolled together such that mechanically they are bonded) consisting of consecutive layers of rubber and reinforcing fabric. They give the structural strength to the tyre. Passenger tyres typically have one or two body plies. Truck tires, off-road tires, and aircraft tires have progressively more plies. The fabric cords are highly flexible but relatively inelastic. The textile materials used are cotton in early years now replaced by rayon, nylon, kevlar, polyester.

Sidewalls Sidewalls are non-reinforced extruded profiles with additives to give the sides of the tire good abrasion resistance and environmental resistance. Additives used in sidewall compounds include antioxidants and antiozonants to protect the tyre from decomposition when exposed to ultra violet light. Sidewall extrusions are nonsymmetrical and provide a thick rubber area to enable molding of raised letters and sidewall ornamentation.

Beads Beads are bands of high tensile-strength steel wire encased in a rubber compound. Bead wire is coated with special alloys of bronze or brass. Coatings protect the steel from corrosion. Copper in the alloy and sulphur in the rubber cross-link to produce copper sulphide, which improves bonding of the bead to the rubber. Beads are inflexible and inelastic, and provide the mechanical strength to fit the tire to the wheel. Bead rubber includes additives to maximize strength and toughness.

Apex The apex is a triangular extruded profile that mates against the bead. The apex provides a cushion between the rigid bead and the flexible inner liner and body ply assembly. It is alternatively called as "filler" in literature and industry.

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Belt Package Belts are calendered sheets consisting of a layer of rubber, a layer of closely spaced steel cords, and a second layer of rubber. The steel cords are oriented radially in radial tire construction, and at opposing angles in bias tire construction. Belts give the tire strength and dent resistance while allowing it to remain flexible. Passenger tires are usually made with two or three belts.

Tread The tread is a thick extruded profile that surrounds the tire carcass and this is the layer which comes directly in contact with the. Tread compounds include additives to impart wear resistance and traction in addition to environmental resistance. Tread compound development is an exercise in compromise, as hard compounds have long wear characteristics but poor traction whereas soft compounds have good traction but poor wear characteristics.

Cushion Gum Many higher-performing tyres include an extruded component between the belt package and the tread to isolate the tread from mechanical wear from the steel belts

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RAW MATERIALS USEDThe above mentioned tyre components use a broad variety of materials like different rubber compounds, different types of carbon black, fillers like clay and silica, chemicals or minerals added to accelerate/decelerate vulcanisation. The tyres also have several types of fabric for reinforcement, several kinds and sizes of steel. Some of the steel is twisted or braided into strong cables.

Natural Rubber

Natural Rubber is an elastomer derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some of the plants like Hevea brasiliensis. These plants produce latex when they are wounded as a healing mechanism. The latex is collected in a vessel and it is allowed to coagulate which gives you the solid rubber which can be further processed in to sheets. The coagulation process can be controlled by chemicals like Ammonia, Formic acid. Ammonia decelerates the coagulation process whereas Formic acid accelerates it. The purified natural rubber is same as polyisoprene.

The monomer of Natural Rubber is 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene,CH2=C(CH3)-CH=CH2. The required properties of rubber like elasticity, is mainly dependent on the cis form of C5H8 rather than its trans counterpart. As the natural rubber is formed by coagulation of latex, the relative proportions of cis and trans are fixed which can result in degradation of desired properties.

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Synthetic Rubber

Synthetic rubber can be made from the polymerization of a variety of monomers including isoprene (2-methyl-1,3-butadiene), 1,3-butadiene, chloroprene (2-chloro-1,3-butadiene), and isobutylene (methylpropene) with a small percentage of isoprene for crosslinking. These and other monomers can be mixed in various desirable proportions to be

copolymerized for a wide range of physical, mechanical, and chemical properties.

The monomers can be produced pure and the addition of impurities or additives can be controlled by design to give optimal properties. Polymerization of pure monomers can be stereospecifically regulated through various catalysts to acheive the desired cis or trans double bonds.

Various kinds of synthetic rubbers are used in the tyre components like Styrene-butadiene, Polybutadiene because of the relatively low materials cost, low heat-buildup properties respectively.

Halobutyl rubber is used for the tubeless inner liner compounds, because of its low air permeability. The halogen atoms provide a bond with the carcass compounds which are mainly natural rubber.

Carbon Black

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Carbon black is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of heavy petroleum products such as coal tar, ethylene cracking tar etc., It is a form of amorphous carbon that has a high surface-area-to-volume ratio and significantly lower PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon). It is used as a pigment and reinforcement filler in the tyre. It helps in conducting heat away from the tread and belt area of the tire, reducing thermal damage and increasing tire life. While a pure styrene-butadiene rubber has a tensile-strength of no more than 2.5MPa, and almost nonexistent abrasion resistance, compounding it with 50% of its weight of carbon black improves its tensile strength to 20MPa and considerable wear resistance. The black color of the tyre is due to carbon black, if we want to have anyother color with the same reinforcing properties fumed silica is used.

Fumed Silica

It is also known as pyrogenic silica as it is produced in a flame, consisting of microscopic droplets of amorphous silica fused into branched, chainlike, three-dimensional secondary particles which then agglomerate into tertiary particles. The resulting powder has an extremely low bulk density and high surface area. Its three-dimensional structure results in viscosity-increasing behavior when used as a thickener or reinforcing filler.

Fumed silica also provides better trade-off for fuel efficiency and wet handling due to a lower rolling loss compared to carbon black-filled tires. Traditionally silica fillers had worse abrasion wear properties, but the technology has gradually improved to where they can match carbon black abrasion performance.

Vulcanization

Natural Rubber is sticky, deforms easily when warm, and is brittle when cold. Vulcanization is a chemical reaction which helps in betterment of some of the properties like removes the sticky behavior, increases the young's modulus etc., in this chemical reaction elements/compounds like Sulphur are added which have the ability to form cross-links between the long chain polymer molecules, converting the rubber from a thermoplastic to a thermosetting polymer. The extent of vulcanization reaction can be controlled by accelerators and retarders.A

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derivative of aniline called thiocarbanilide, zinc oxide accelerates the action of sulfur to rubber, leading to shorter cure times.

Antioxidant

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of preventing oxidation of other molecules. We say something is oxidized if it loses electrons, hence moving to a higher oxidation state. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals which can result in polymerization.As the tyre components are exposed to sunlight free radicals may get generated, antioxidants essentially terminate these free radicals preventing extraneous polymerization reactions. Antioxidants basically undergo oxidation reaction themselves, thus preventing oxidation of other compounds. Antioxidants are reducing agents such as thiols, ascorbic acid, polyphenols.

Antiozonant

Rubber contains an unsaturated double bond, as the tyre is always exposed to atmosphere ozone gas present in the atmosphere may break the double bond in to aldehydes or ketones. Thus reducing the degree of polymerization results into the degradation of properties. Cracks start to appear on the tyre, which are called as ozone cracks. Antiozonants are chemical compounds that prevent or slow down the degradation of material caused by ozone gas in the air. Paraffin wax acts as an antiozonant by the means of formation of a surface barrier.

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DESIGN CONCEPTSAs a first step toward the evaluation of design concepts, the wheel and tire assembly was considered in the light of its various functions in the vehicle and its interaction with military logistics, tactics and strategy.

The concept is that the tire and wheel might constitute a single unit, eliminating weight and cost of beads, rims and associated hardware. This concept is valid for tires that will not have to be removed from the wheel during their life. It is anticipated that foam-filled tires or tires packed with inflated spheres will not have to be repaired as a result of punctures or other damage normally deemed repairable. Any damage severe enough to take them out of commission would normally require that the tire be discarded. In order to utilize this concept, it is necessary to optimize the life of the tire.

A very attractive prospect is that of a wheel and tire assembly that (1) Will have very long life, (2) Require and permit no maintenance except possibly the annual checking of inflation pressure and replacement of treads, and (3) Not require spares. If characteristics (1) and (2) can be realized the integral WTA concept can be used not only to save the cost and weight of the beads, rims and associated hardware, but also to prevent injury which might occur if a mechanic were to try to demount a casing filled with pressurized foam or inflated spheres. If a casing cannot be deflated, its removal from the wheel is hazardous unless proper equipment and precautions are used.The savings in weight and in production costs to be realized with the integral WTA depend upon its design, which is discussed below. Manufacturing feasibility must be incorporated in the design of the assembly; the concept of the integral assembly presents no untoward design challenges.

Visual design

This chapter describes the different steps of the design procedure, which was focused on general and product design and meant to form visual concepts before

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moving on to acoustic design. The general workflow for the thesis is illustrated in the picture below.

Figure Workflow.

Expressions and concept generation

To find the expression of the Continental brand for the new tyre tread designs, and to fit in the values for the customer, a values description and mood board were created. The mood board served as inspiration, and was also the basis for the some of the expressions that were selected for the designs. Seven expressions, some of them newly created, were then the basis for sketching the patterns. Three of them represented Continental tyre as a brand and Continental as a company, while the other four represented the customer. Six patterns were then generated, partly from extracting ideas from the mood board, and partly on a combination of the expressions, of which one was a “Continental expression”, and two were “customer expressions”. By tying one expression in each concept to the Continental brand and

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company the three functions above were combined with the function identify.

Concept resultsSix concept patterns were generated that would fulfill the basic requirements in the product specification, which also included a basic manufacturing limitations such as repeatability, and also basic principles regarding solid mechanics (limiting the patterns to geometries that will not make the material too susceptible to mechanical damage). The patterns were drawn first by hand, then in Photoshop to enable a high flexibility of output formats. All patterns were drawn with grooves represented as black areas, while rubber that would have a chance of contact with the ground was made white.

1 2 3

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Precise Speedy/fast Precise Precise Clear & shiny Hard Clear & shiny Speedy/Fast Gedgety 4 5 6

Functionally supreme Functionally supreme SafeSpeedy/Fast Gadgety Hard

Clear & shiny Hard Gadgety

Concept evaluation

After generating the concept patterns a short questionnaire was used to evaluate the expressions of the concepts. This particular survey was made only to receive a general indication about how 10 people, of various backgrounds, appreciated the six designs. The subjects were instructed that this is highly subjective and they could use their “gut feeling” and put anything they wanted, including comments on the sheet, but they also had to choose three of the available seven expressions, and only one from the user/buyer/customer box and two from the Continental box (figure 17). The survey showed that most of the designs

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according to this study were perceived to illustrate the expressions they were intended to Illustrate.

Acoustic design

After generating pictures in Photoshop these were made into bitmap files, transferred and processed with Matlab, from which the simulation software retrieves data. Material data and structural geometry data for another Continental tyre had already been prepared and installed from previous research on roads. To get started with the simulation process within the limited time of this thesis work this data was used. Each pattern had to be totally repetitive, without interruption due to misalignments between two repetitions. Any misalignments could cause a disrupted pattern when repeated, and would be likely to evoke larger vibrations that could lead to a higher total emitted sound level. The coarse adjustments to make repetitions smooth were therefore accounted for in Photoshop, while fine adjustments were made in Matlab. Simulations were then run in SPERoN at a constant velocity of 90 km/h, with constant inflation pressure and air flow resistance. The selected road surface was a surface called A141, which is very similar to a smooth ISO surface.Patterns were then modified to investigate some already proven methods for improving sound characteristics. Some basic characteristics (which are also known to make a big difference in obtaining improved sound characteristics) were evaluated in these simulations, there among:

Void content Shoulder groove angle Width of horizontal grooves Randomization Shift

By simulating, and hoping to confirm what was expected in terms of general tendencies resulting from these basic modifications, some of the concept patterns were meant to undergo modification towards a better result. Other modifications of various patterns were also made, some for investigation of the accuracy of the

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software, some for finding the difference between basic patterns, and for improvements of the previously generated initial patterns. By modifying and simulating repeatedly the expected outcome was to see the general tendencies resulting from modifications of these basic characteristics in tread patterns.By simulating, and hoping to confirm what was expected in terms of general tendencies resulting from these basic modifications, some of the concept patterns were meant to undergo modification towards a better result. Other modifications of various patterns were also made, some for investigation of the accuracy of the software, some for finding the difference between basic patterns, and for improvements of the previously generated initial patterns. By modifying and simulating repeatedly the expected outcome was to see the general tendencies resulting from modifications of these basic characteristics (bullet points above) in tread patterns.

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TYRE MANUFACTURING PROCESS

4.1 Compounding and Banbury mixing

A Banbury mixer combines rubber stock, carbon black and other chemical ingredients to create a homogeneous rubber material. Time, heat and raw materials are factors utilized to engineer material composition. The ingredients are generally provided to the plant in pre-weighed packages or are prepared and weighed by the Banbury operator from bulk quantities. Measured ingredients are placed onto a conveyor system, and the Banbury is charged to initiate the mixing process. Hundreds of components are combined to form rubber utilized for tyre manufacturing. The components include compounds which act as accelerators, anti-oxidants, anti-ozonants, extenders, vulcanizers, pigments, plasticizers, reinforcing agents and resins. Most constituents are unregulated and may not have had extensive toxicological evaluations. Generally speaking, the Banbury operators' occupational exposures to the raw materials have been reduced by improvements in administrative and engineering controls. However, concern remains due to the nature and quantity of components which make up the exposure.

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4.2 Milling Shaping of rubber begins in the milling process. At the completion of the Banbury mixing cycle, rubber is placed onto a drop mill. The milling process shapes the rubber into flat, long strips by forcing it through two set rolls rotating in different directions at different speeds. Mill operators are generally concerned with safety hazards associated with the open operation of the turning rolls. Older mills usually had trip wires or bars which could be pulled by the operator if he or she is got caught in the mills. Modern mills have body bars at about knee level that are automatically triggered if the operator is caught in the mills. Most facilities have extensive emergency rescue procedures in place for workers trapped in mills. Mill operators are exposed to heat as well as noise.

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4.3 Extruding and Calendering The calender operation continues to shape rubber. The calender machine consists of one or more (often four) rolls, through which the rubber sheets are forced. The calender machine has the following functions: • To prepare compounded rubber as a uniform sheet of definite thickness and width • To place a thin coat of rubber on a fabric (“coating” or “skimming”) • To force rubber into the interstices of fabric by friction (“frictioning”)

The rubber sheets coming off the calendar are wound on drums, called “shells,” with fabric spacers, called “liners,” to prevent sticking.

The extruder is often referred to as a “tuber” because it creates tube-like rubber components. The extruder functions by forcing rubber through dies of appropriate shape. The extruder consists of a screw, barrel or cylinder, head and die. A core or spider is used to form the hollow inside of tubing. The extruder makes the large, flat section of tyre treads. Extruder and calendar operators may be exposed to talc and solvents, which are used in the process. Also, the workers at the end of the extrusion operation are exposed to a highly repetitive task of placing the tread onto multi-tiered carts. This operation is often referred to as booking treads, because the cart looks like a book with the trays being the pages. The configuration of the extruder as well as the weight and quantities of tread to be booked contribute to the ergonomic impact of this operation. Numerous

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changes have been made to lessen this, and some operations have been automated.

4.4 Component Assembly and Building The tyre assembly machine consists of a rotating drum, on which the components are assembled, and feeding devices to supply the tyre builder with the components to assemble (see figure 80.7). The components of a tyre include beads, plies, side walls and treads. After the components are assembled, the tyre is often referred to as a “green tyre”. Tyre builders and other workers in this area of the process are exposed to a number of repetitive motion operations. Components, often in heavy rolls, are placed onto the feeding portions of the assembly equipment. This may entail extensive lifting and handling of heavy rolls in a limited space. The nature of assembly also requires the tyre builder to perform a series of similar or identical motions on each assembly. Tyre builders utilize solvents, such as hexane, which allow the tread and plies of rubber to adhere. Exposure to the solvents is an area of concern. After being assembled, the green tyre is sprayed with a solvent- or water-based material to keep it away from adhering to the curing mould. These solvents potentially expose the spray operator, material handler and curing press operator. Nowadays, water-based materials are mostly used.

4.5 Curing and Vulcanizing Curing press operators place green tyres into the curing press or onto press loading equipment. Curing presses in operation in North America exist in a variety of types, ages and degrees of automation. The press utilizes steam to heat or cure the green tyre. Rubber curing or vul-canization transforms the tacky and pliable material to a non-tacky, less pliable, long-lasting state.

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4.6 Inspection and Finishing Following curing, finishing operations and inspection remain to be performed before the tyre is stored or shipped. The finishing operation trims flash or excess rubber from the tyre. This excess rubber remains on the tyre from vents in the curing mould. Additionally, excess layers of rubber may need to be ground from the side walls or raised lettering on the tyre. One of the major health hazards that workers are exposed to while handling a cured tyre is repetitive motion. The tyre finishing or grinding operations typically expose workers to cured rubber dust or particulate. This contributes to respiratory illness in workers in the finishing area. In addition, a potential exists for solvent exposure from the protective paint which is often used to protect the side-wall or tyre lettering. After finishing, the tyre is ready to be stored in a warehouse or shipped from the plant.

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Indian Tire Market

The Indian tyre industry has been quick in adopting the latest technology trends through foreign collaborations and tailoring these to Indian needs. The manufacturers are also investing in development of ‘green tyres’. The market for radial tyres in the commercial vehicles segment has seen rapid growth in recent times. In the medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment thecurrent adoption levels of radial tyres is around 15 per cent. In the light commercial vehicle segment, it is estimated to be 18 per cent. The passenger car segment switched toradial tyres earlier, and within a short period of time, penetration levels reached almost 100 per cent. This segment will surely be the focus for Indian tyre manufactures as it is expected to grow at about 15per cent over the next few years to Rs 423 billion by 2017.

In 2011-12, the Indian tyre industry recorded a turnover of Rs 300 billion, producing 119.2 million tyres, amounting to 1.49 million metric tonnes. Currently, India has 40 listed tyre manufacturing companies, of which the top 10 account for over 96 per cent of the country’s total tyre production. The tyre export market in India is valued at Rs 3.6 billion. While the tyre industry is largely dominated by the organized sector, the unorganized sector dominates the bicycle tyre market. With the focus on providing better products and services, Indian tyre manufacturersare setting up well-equipped in-house R&D centres with emphasis on developing cutting-edge technology for new compounds, new designs for different segments and new reinforcement materials. Cost optimisation for quality improvementsand orientation towards changing customer requirements are also areas of research. The concept of ‘green tyres’ is now emerging as a benchmark for the industry’s competitiveness. Though the technology has been around since the1990s, due to higher manufacturing costs, it was put on a backburner until recently. Green tyres provide numerous benefits over normal tyres, includinglower fuel consumption.

Top 5 tyre companies in India in 2015Here is a list of the top 10 tyre companies, ranked on the basis of net sales, as of 2015:1. MRF. MRF, which stands for Madras Rubber Factory, has been the market

leader for the last 21 years. Starting out as a toy-balloon manufacturer, it become the first Indian tyre company to touch a turnover of Rs 50 billion. MRF

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has built a strong association with sports, mostly cricket and motor sports. Most cricket lovers will remember the MRF logo on Sachin Tendulkar’s bat.

2. Apollo Tyres. With its portfolio of six brands—Apollo, Dunlop, Kaizen, Maloya, Regal and Vredestien—Apollo Tyres caters to all segments of customers ranging from passenger and commercial vehicles to off-highway tyres. It is the 15th largest tyre manufacturer in the world. The company managed a growth rate of 37 per cent in 2012, having been slightly hit by rising raw material costs. In the car segment, Apollo is the biggest supplier of tyres.

3. JK Tyres. The company was hit by slowdown in the automotive sector this year as the truck/bus segment, in which it is the market leader, recorded a growth of just 7 per cent and the car sales saw a growth of 2.7 per cent. Overall, the company registered a growth of just 17 per cent, which is pretty low by industry standards. On a positive note, its all-radial plant coming up in Chennai is on course. Increased capacity is expected to give JK Tyres a renewed strength in the market.

4. CEAT Tyres. CEAT, owned by the RPG Group since 1982, is probably the most visible face of the Indian tyre industry. Cricket lovers are familiar with the CEAT Cricket Ratings, which was the first international cricket rating system. More recently, its advertising campaign “The road is full of idiots” won many awards and critical acclaim. The company scaled the Rs 10 billion export benchmark in 2015.

5. Balkrishna Tyres. BKT operates in the niche category of ‘off highway tyres’ used in segments like agriculture, construction, industrial and earthmovers. The company has enjoyed a year-on-year (y-o-y) growth rate of 46 per cent in 2015. Its sales mostly come from overseas markets and hence the continued downturn in Europe and US could slow down its growth in the coming years.

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Financial Analysis of MRF Tires

MRF Ltd, originally known as Madras Rubber Factory is leading tyre manufacturing company in India was established in the year 1946 by K M Mammen Mappillai, The company is primarily engaged in the manufacture of rubber products, such as tyres, tubes, flaps, tread rubber and conveyor belt.MRF is the first Indian company which exports tyres to USA in 1967, Now it exports to more than 65 countries in USA, Europe, Middle East Japan and Asia Pacific.The manufacturing units of the company are located at Tiruvottiyur and Arakonam in Tamil Nadu, Kottayam in Kerala, Ponda in Goa, Medak in Andhra Pradesh and Union Territory of Pondicherry.In the present study an efforts have been made to analysis financial position of the concern by careful study of revenues, sales, profits, net worth and other elements from the financial statements and financial ratio analysis. The relation between two or more accounting figures/groups is called a financial ratio. A financial ratio helps to express the relationship between two accounting figures in such a way that users can draw conclusions about the performance, strengths and weakness of a firm.

TEN YEARS FINANCIAL SUMMARY (Rs. in Crore)2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004

Sales 13444.75 13054.03 10637.03 8080.45 6141.94 5715.52 5036.75 4233.66 3437.13 2989.43

OtherIncome 37.40 39.73 33.14 29.13 34.40 40.83 24.17 27.07 44.96 58.54TotalIncome 13482.15 13093.76 10670.17 8109.58 6176.34 5756.35 5060.92 4260.73 3482.09 3047.97Profit Before Taxation 1226.80 833.12 893.65 534.66 398.48 211.39 260.96 99.81 55.34 42.90Provision for Taxation 424.59 260.76 274.23 180.68 145.45 66.83 89.18 19.90 15.03 14.10Profit after Taxation 802.21 572.36 619.42 353.98 253.03 144.56 171.78 79.91 40.31 28.80ShareCapital 4.24 4.24 4.24 4.24 4.24 4.24 4.24 4.24 4.24 4.24

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Reserves 3640.90 2853.56 2293.53 1686.44 1357.18 1116.55 981.91 820.05 749.81 719.17

Net

Worth 3645.14 2857.80 2297.77 1690.68 1361.42 1120.79 986.15 824.29 754.05 723.41

Fixed

Assets 5834.14 5477.16 4967.07 3865.62 3020.57 2866.24 2289.77 1955.99 1787.85 1534.47

As shown in above table MRF Ltd. has shown tremendous growth in the last 10 years. Let see these in the chart to have clear idea of growth

1. Sales

Sales

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

As shows in the above chart the sales of Mrf Ltd have continuously increased in the last 10 years. At the end of 2004 it was Rs. 2989.43 crores which went to Rs. 13444.75 crore in 2013. In terms of percentages it has increased 450% approximately during the last 10 years.

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2. Net Worth

4000

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000 500

0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

The net worth has increased from 723.41 crore to 3645.14 crores during the last 10 years. The rate of increased is 504% approximately.

Recycling of worn tires

A car tire qualifies as a worn tire when, after a certain period of use, it has forfeited its original functional capability. The worn tire can be recycled for its material value and/or as energy carrier. Recycling thus represents an expansion in the use benefit of a car tire. This natural interface is used to functionally separate the life cycle assessment of a car tire from the life cycle assessment of a worn tire.The recycling of worn tires takes place in different recy-cling processes. Alongside raw material recycling processes – the suitability of which is estab-lished in tests – there are a number of material and energy recycling processes that have been tested in real life situa-tions. This study takes a look at the most significant worn tire recycling processes as case examples.The three recycling processes are – full retreading, cement production, and energy generation in tire power stations. In a systems comparison of this kind, the

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uniformity and equivalency of benefits must be guaranteed. The benefit achieved by using the worn tire thus always serves as reference quantity; i.e. the mileage of the retreaded tire, the amount of cement pro-duced or the amount of energy obtained. This makes possible a direct comparison of resource consumption and the related environmental impact with standard and equivalent processes.

It is important to note that this manner of analyzing a worn tire, which concentrates on its in-put as feedstock or energy car-rier in the recycling process, neglects the negative impact (resources expended, emissions into the air and water, waste and overburden) during its life as a functioning tire).

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Referenceshttp://www.efymag.com

publications.lib.chalmers.se

www. continental -corporation.com

http://www.uniroyaltires.com

https://en.wikipedia.org

http://global.yokohamatire.net

http://www.madehow.com

https://www.scribd.com

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