Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) has leaned on proprietary technologies to develop a new material that promises to help significantly reduce the weight of automotive air conditioning hoses. Taking the form of a rubber–resin polymer alloy, the new material exhibits a sea–island structure in which the sea phase is composed of resin and the island phase is composed of rubber....
lightweighting
Mitsubishi Chemical’s Carbon Fiber SMC Finds Use in Roof of New Toyota GR Yaris
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. recently announced that its carbon fiber sheet molding compound (SMC) has been adopted for use in the roof of the new GR Yaris launched in September by Toyota Motor Corp. (TYO:7203). In selecting this SMC, Toyota judged that the material would be able to facilitate both significant lightweighting and a high level of component performance while also...
Yokohama Rubber Launches Limited Sales of Lightweight, Eco-Friendly Tire
Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) on Dec. 5 launched Japanese sales of BluEarth-air EF21, a new tire incorporating the latest in design technique for lightweighting and reduction of environmental impact. Sales have been limited to 100 units with a single size of 205/55R16 91V. Adopting Yokohama Rubber’s latest design technique to achieve a lighter tire and conserve resources, the BluEarth-air...