On January 28, 2019, the research on "large-scale application of graphene rubber composites", which is conducted jointly by Beijing Tiancheng Linglong Tire Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Linglong Tire, and Beijing University of Chemical Technology, has passed the audit and acceptance held by Beijing Municipal Science&Technology Commission(BMSTC).

Besides, China's leading experts from Tsinghua University, Peking University, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNT), Beijing Normal University, Beijing Research Institute of Sinopec (BRIS), etc had participated in the audit.

This research is another milestone for Linglong Tire after the first low rolling resistance concept tire was made and published in an international authoritative academic journal in 2015. Guo Baochun, a professor from South China University of Technology, has provided the key technical support with his team, and the trial production of grapheme-enhanced tire was completed in the semi-steel radial tire production line of Zhaoyuan, Linglong Tire's production base.

The achievements of this research are as follows: the team has jointly developed the graphene pretreatment technology, by which lowered the production cost for graphene pretreatment. After the pretreatment body was applied in the tread formula, the graphene-enhanced tire can be produced without changing the existing tire production process and equipment in addition to some appropriate process adjustment, so as to ensure the feasibility of industrial production process within controllable cost; the trial-produced tires achieved breakthroughs in key performance such as fuel efficiency, safety and anti-static, and successfully demonstrated the application value of graphene in energy-saving tire space.

More specifically, the fuel-efficient grade of Linglong's graphene tire is close to the grade A of the EU Tire Labeling Regulation, also, its wet grip performance is estimated to achieve the level A of EU Labeling, and its comprehensive performance has reached the international advanced level. In addition, the abrasion resistance and thermal conductivity of the tires have varying degrees of improvement compared with the high-performance green tires on the market.

        As a material, graphene has the advantages of ultra-high conductivity and thermal conductivity. A small amount of graphene in polymer composites can significantly improve the conductivity and thermal conductivity of the materials. Also, the characteristics of ultra-high strength and super-large specific surface area of graphene enable it to effectively improve the abrasion resistance of rubber composites. Through micro interface technology originally developed by the research team, the fuel consumption of grapheme tire can be effectively reduced. The introduction of graphene into tire production will have a profound impact on the development of Chinese tire technology and graphene industry.