Nontire sector

About 70% of natural rubber consumption goes into tire production while the remaining 30% is used by the nontire sector. There is some substitutability of various synthetic elastomers for natural rubber, but it is rather limited. This substitutability is restricted for the tire sector, which globally uses almost half of its total rubber requirement as natural rubber. In the short term, it is technically very difHcult to make major substitutions of synthetic rubber for NR use. Some applications are very critical, such as the use of NR in wire adhesion compounds for the production of steel-belted radial tires. Also, the use of natural rubber is very critical in the production of very large off-the-road tires. However, the natural rubber requirements of the nontire sector were only 29% of its total rubber usage in the year 2000. The nontire sector only used about 22% of its total rubber requirement as natural rubber in 2010. Many times it is easier in the nontire sector to substitute specialty syn-... 

Natural rubber is also widely used in nontire applications which account for approximately 30% of the consumption of all rubber as an aggregate (including both natural and synthetic rubber). However, in the nontire sector, natural rubber was about 22% of total rubber consumption in 2012. Many times natural rubber is used as the sole base elastomer in compounds used in automotive bushings, motor mounts, vibration isolators, and dampers. On the other hand, NR is blended with SBR for compounds used in conveyor belts, welding hose covers, braided water hose, laboratory tubing, footwear knee boots, footwear microcellular compounds, footwear boot uppers, tank linings, and play balls. NR/BR blended compounds are used to make conveyor belt cover stocks, shoe soling, and so on. 

Both emulsion and solution SBR grades are used by the tire industry. However, the new solution SBR grades impart better rolling resistance and are growing in use at four times the rate of consumption of emulsion SBR grades. On the other hand, the less expensive SBR grades, such as SBR 1205, are used by the nontire sector. 

EPDM is the fourth highest volume general purpose elastomer used today in the ruhher industry. At 2.7 hillion pounds of global annual production in 2010, EPDM represents about 10% of the total synthetic rubber production. However, unlike NR, SBR, and BR, this synthetic rubber is mostly used in the nontire sector (only a small amount of EPDM may be used in tire white sidewall compound, cover strip, and bicycle tires). EPDM is commonly used in single-ply roofing, in automotive weatherstrips, and hundreds of other applications. 

Except for butyl and halobutyl, these specialty elastomers are largely used in the nontire sector of the rubber industry. They typically provide differing degrees of... 

Many of the original Monsanto/AES patents expired around 1999. As a result, there are now many new TPV suppliers offering products in competition with Santoprene. Currently there are about 15 TPV compounding suppliers in the United States alone, 10 new producers in Europe, and many new TPV firms in Asia. These new TPV suppliers are also offering new types of thermoplastic vulcanizates that are not just based on polypropylene and EPDM. In addition. Advanced Elastomer Systems (a division of ExxonMobil) expanded its Pensacola, Florida, production plant in 2006. This new capacity was needed because the projection for growth ofTPVs in the nontire sector is around 6% annually in the United States and as high as 12% for some automotive applications. 

There are numerous nontire rubber fabricators in the world today (Table 1.2). A far larger number of different rubber fabrication plants exist for the nontire than for the tire sector. The economies of scale are different for tire manufacturing compared to fabrication of rubber articles and products for the nontire sector. Achieving effective economies of scale for a tire plant requires a certain minimal size of perhaps 25,000 tires per day. On the other hand, the minimal capital and size requirements for production plants in the nontire sector are considerably less. Therefore, the nontire sector is populated with a larger number of production plants, representing a broader mix of large, medium, and small plants. 

General-purpose elastomers represent the work horse rubbers of the rubber industry. They are the lowest cost, most cost-effective rubber polymers available today. The vast majority of these raw elastomers are used in the tire sector however, a large amount is also used in nontire applications as well, such as single-ply roofing, hose, dynamic parts (such as bushings, isolators, and dampers), and conveyor belts. 

SBR is the largest volume synthetic elastomer used by the rubber industry. Also, SBR is usually the least expensive elastomer, which may explain its very wide use, especially in the tire sector. SBR usually represents about 25% of the total monetary value of all synthetic elastomers. By tonnage, SBR now represents over one-third of synthetic rubber production however, before the introduction of radial tires in the 1960s, SBR represented 55%. Not only is SBR used in tire production, it is also used in the manufacture of conveyor belts, industrial hose, and footwear, to name a few uses. About 76% of SBR is used in tires, 15% in mechanical rubber goods, 5% in nontire automotive, and about 4% in miscellaneous applications such as shoe soles, floor tiles, and adhesives. 

The major sectors of the nontire industry include the following ... 

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