One industry veteran believes that certain aspects of the retreading process will one day be widespread within the tire business as a whole. During his presentation on future tire production principles and methods given at the Tire Technology Expo 2014 on Feb. 11, Jacob Peled, founder and executive chairman of Pelmar Engineering Ltd., said that tire production using the pre-cure method lends itself well to the manufacture of new tires, and can save a manufacturer time, while also avoiding the bottlenecks currently experienced.“I believe in curing in two stages – curing the casing and then curing the tread,” Peled said. “Curing the casing makes it unnecessary to use a segmented mold, which is very expensive, slow and very heavy, with big machinery even needed for small tires.”
Peled said he foresees that the application of pre-cured treads onto separately cured casings will “eventually dominate the industry” and offer benefits.
“I have seen people using pre-cured tread on new tires in order to have faster produced tires, eliminating the necessity to cure the tread. Why? Because if you cure tread on a flat press, it is faster, you can apply a lot more pressure and the quality – this is known from the retreading industry – is good. After all, the quality of a retread is as good as a new tire. You don’t have less mileage and you don’t have any other problems with the tread.”
Peled said curing the casing alone reduces curing time by at least 30%, depending on the type of tire. He said he has already seen tiremakers producing tires on brand new casings using the above-mentioned process; however, he added he was unable to disclose the identity of the companies producing these pre-cure retreads on new casings due to the confidentiality agreements of Pelmar Engineering has signed.
An additional benefit is that applying the pre-cure process to new tire production will also eliminate the necessity of strip winding, a feature otherwise required on every tire building machine. Last, Peled pointed out that under the pre-cure production method, treads can be cured in accordance with market requirements, and therefore stocks of finished tires could be substantially reduced. (Tyres & Accessories)
