922 Research Institute (Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture, President: Yuji Hofuku) has added new functions to its functional rubber material e-NBR (trademark registered), which has tensile strength equivalent to that of hydrogenated nitrile rubber (H-NBR). The lineup now also includes the newly added grades e-NBRX, e-NBRY and e-NBRZ. e-NBR is a functional rubber material that Hofuku has been developing since he...
Sanyo Trading has recently signed a sole agency agreement for Japan with Brisil Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of biomass rice husk silica. The agreement will accelerate the supply of highly dispersible biomass silica for tire and rubber compounding to the Japanese market. Silica is an important raw material for fuel-efficient tires, and demand for silica is expected to grow...
Sumitomo Rubber Singapore, a natural rubber procurement company of the Sumitomo Rubber Group, introduced in July an environmental and social risk assessment tool specialized for natural rubber. The tool will accelerate the realization of sustainable procurement of natural rubber. As demand for natural rubber increases due to population growth and the development of a mobility society, the company faces the...
Denka and SCG Chemicals (SCGC, headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand), a wholly owned subsidiary of Siam Cement, have decided to establish a joint venture company to manufacture and sell acetylene black and to construct an acetylene black production plant in Thailand. The investment amount is $400 million and the plant will be located in Map Ta Phut in Rayong Province. Construction...
Japanese automotive rubber parts suppliers in China continue to struggle. This is due to the decline in sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in China, where Japanese automakers are lagging behind their competitors. Japanese automotive rubber parts suppliers, which entered the Chinese market in the 2000s in response to Japanese automakers, are now facing a turning point. In China, the world’s...
Soft Robot Hand, developed by Bridgestone’s Softrobotics Ventures, has won the Good Design Award 2023 sponsored by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion. Bridgestone is challenging the soft robotics business, which supports safe and secure movement and motion of people and objects with soft robots that can cooperate with humans, by using rubber artificial muscles (rubber actuators) that use the...
