Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) is set to launch its ST series of low-friction elastic sliding bearings, which help to reduce the effects of earthquakes by slowing the shaking of buildings. The series is fit for use in a wide variety of applications, ranging from low-rise buildings to skyscrapers. Elastic sliding bearings are primarily composed of a multilayered rubber component and a...
Air Water Inc. (TYO:4088) has developed a highly heat-resistant new O-ring using general-purpose fluororubber (FKM). This was achieved via efforts from subsidiary Air Water Mach Inc., which produces and and sells O-rings in addition to other sealing products. The new product combines fluororubber with Zeonano SG101, a series of single-walled carbon nanotubes that Zeon Corp. (TYO:4205) produces via the super-growth...
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) recently announced that it has developed a double-tube internal heat exchanger (IHX) that offers improved cooling efficiency for automotive air conditioning systems. The product has already been adopted in the new Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Compass. While conventional IHX systems use two separate refrigerant tubes, Yokohama Rubber’s new offering partially integrates these. This allows the...
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) has discovered a technique for monitoring and measuring strain-induced crystallization in natural and isoprene rubber at a record-high temporal resolution. The basic technology for this was developed using Spring-8, a large synchrotron radiation facility in western Japan. Natural rubber is less susceptible to cracking than typical isoprene rubber, with one suspected reason for this being the crystallization...
Zeon Corp. (TYO:4205) has worked with the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) and Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) to co-develop a new technology for producing isoprene – a raw material used in synthetic rubber – from biomass in a stable and efficient manner. By constructing a world-first artificial pathway and creating highly active enzymes, the research project has...
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) recently announced that it has developed an earthquake response analysis model for its high-damping bearings, which form part of the company’s lineup of seismic isolation rubber products. These efforts were made in conjunction with Kazuhiko Kasai, an adjunct professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Masaru Kikuchi, a professor from Hokkaido University. The newly developed analysis...
