Growing natural calamities as a consequence of global warming are one of the most pondering subjects today. The exponential growth of environmental pollution due to unscientific human exploitation of natural resources is considered the prime reason for the harsh responses of nature. Researchers from various fields of industry and academia are working hard to develop and implement products/technologies that are environmentally friendly or less harmful to the ecosystem. Material researchers, specifically those working in the automobile sector are also not behind in search of green products from eco-friendly raw materials and production methods. The automobile industry is collectively responsible for around 40% of global pollution in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Out of which around 20–30% is originating from tyre production and its end-use. In this view, tyre production from eco-friendly raw materials and technologies that have minimum hazardousness to the environment is a hot research topic today. A few products in the market with “green” tags and many are in the pipeline for the recent future. This review summarises a detailed discussion of the emerging green technologies for tyre production and depicted comprehensive data from the available literature. The paper has been drafted from a well-balanced academic and industrial point of view since the researchers from both sectors are working in harmony for a better future for green tyre technology.

Nitrosamines (NA) reported to be found in rubber products vulcanized using conventional accelerators such as tetramethylthiuramdisulphide (TMTD) are carcinogenic. Tetra benzyl thiuramdisulphide (TBzTD) has been used in an efficient vulcanisation (EV) system to prepare rubber vulcanisates having properties comparable to the vulcanisate prepared using TMTD. TBzTD is reported to be non regulated and safe. The compound containing TBzTD shows better scorch safety. The novel safe vulcanisate shows comparable mechanical properties, crosslink density and improved aging resistance.

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Ecofriendly green tyre tread compounds were developed with low rolling resistance, low heat buildup, and improved wet grip properties. A standard formulation of natural rubber (NR) and butadiene (BR) with 50 phr carbon black was prepared in a brabender plasticoder. Based on the processability, successful reduction of carbon black and aromatic oil content was done up to a minimum value of 32 and 3 phr respectively. Partial replacement of graphite with carbon black was done to achieve the optimized formulation. A binary filler system with 10 phr graphite and 22 phr carbon black was optimized based on the mechanical properties and further addition of graphite leads to reduction in properties due to agglomeration. To enhance the properties further, the graphite was thermally treated to get an exfoliated structure which can significantly improve the area of the filler/matrix macromolecules interface. This ultimately had a positive impact on targeted properties. A sudden thermal shock for 15 min at various temperatures ranging from 400 to 550 C was given and prepared the optimized binary formulation and evaluated the properties. Excellent results in terms of low rolling resistance (0.039) and heat build-up (18 C) were recorded for final formulation. The flex fatigue resistance was enhanced and the thermal stability improved by 29 C.

The present study is proposing an eco-friendly, green tyre tread formulation possessing excellent output properties in terms of abrasion resistance, mechanical, rolling resistance and heat buildup properties. A standard formulation was prepared with a nominal amount of carbon black (CB) filler and tried to reduce the filler loading to a minimum value without compromising the performance characteristics. The simultaneous reduction in aromatic oil content also tried to make the formulation eco-friendly. To compensate for the effect of changes in the formulation a binary hybrid filler system was prepared by the partial replacement of CB using graphite. To ensure the maximum dispersion, a filler masterbatch of graphite was prepared within natural rubber matrix (NR) as (50/50) composition and incorporated into the compound master batch. The effect of thermal exfoliation of graphite on the dispersion thereby the performance of the composite was also analyzed. The graphite was thermally treated for a sudden thermal shock for 15 minutes at various temperatures ranging from 400–550 ˚C. Rolling resistance and heat build-up were recorded 45% and 53% reduction respectively for the formulations with thermally exfoliated graphite in comparison with the standard formulation. Abrasion resistance showed 18% improvement and significant improvement in mechanical and thermal properties are also reported.

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