Tire Technology Expo planned.

Tire Technology Expo 2001, the international showcase of tire design, tire materials and tire manufacturing technology, sponsored by U.K. and International Press, will take place January 10-12 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres, Cannes, France.

Tire Technology Expo 2001 will serve as a platform and global forum for the presentation of the latest concepts in tire design, manufacturing and testing. At the same time, key issues will be addressed relating to the future of the tire and the future of the tire manufacturing industry.

This conference will include over 60 presentations covering the full spectrum of issues affecting current and future tire manufacturing. Papers will address front-line issues with practical relevance to today's key decision-makers working in all areas of tire manufacturing.

Topics to be covered during Tire Technology Expo 2001 will include the tire as an information center; design simulation and modeling; R&D hardware; new materials; noise; improving manufacturing efficiency; testing and QA; the future of the product and product characteristics; and industry structure and strategies.

Tire Technology Expo 2001 is directed toward R&D managers/directors and tire designers, chemists, compounders, engineering managers, plant and production managers, purchasing managers, planning managers, tire industry consultants, tire industry investment advisors, equipment and materials dealers, chemicals and materials brokers, materials and ingredients suppliers, and machinery manufacturers.

The technical program for Tire Technology Expo 2001 is as follows:

Wednesday, January 10 - Session 1 - Tire Design and Development: "Improvements in the surface to tire interface," Dr. Roger Williams; "Truck tire simulation techniques at Continental focusing on reduction of development time," Thomas Neddenriep, Continental AG; "Virtual tires in driving simulators," Dr. Dario Solis, University of Iowa; "Development of truck tires and integrated systems at Continental AG," Werner Knauf, Continental AG; "Virtual proving ground simulation technology and VPG tire development applications," Arthur Tang, Engineering Technology Association; "A 3D dynamic tire model for vehicle handling analysis," Ben Kao, Ford Motor; "The making of a tire - right by design," Yves Rubin, Polyflow S.A.; "Material constants and its input in finite element analysis in truck tires," P.C. Bohara, Hasetri; "The automatic viscoelastic analysis applied to elastomer compounds," Bernard Duperray, Metravib; "The fundamental requirements for tire modeling," Dr. Savckoor, Delft University; "Simulation of the vulcanization process of a passenger car tire in the curing mold using finite element methods," Mir Hamid Reza Ghoreishy, Iran Polymer Institute; "The use of finite element methods for modeling of the tire as an automotive component in vehicle misuse and durability studies," Ray Hanley, University of Leeds; "Tire surface modeling for fracture prediction," Romana Pidaparti, Purdue University; "Tire surface modeling for extreme weather conditions," Sally Shoop, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; "Motorcycle tire models for dynamic simulation," Alberto Doria, Padua University; and "Run flat extended mobility tires (EMT): A challenge for tire finite element modeling techniques," Jean-Pierre Jeusette, Goodyear Technical Center.

Wednesday, January 10 - Session 2 - Tire Manufacturing: "Reducing costs - the first step: Cold mixing," Colin Holroyd, Holroyd Associates; "The Coflow intermeshing rotor internal mixers," Narku O. Nortey, Skinner Engine; "Efficiency strategies for manufacturing improvements," Sham Sunder Azad, Informys Rubber Science & Technology; "Weaving tire cord and conveyor belts," J. Wildhaber, Sulzer Textile Limited; "Variable speed and variable friction in rubber mixing," Uno Sundelin, Hagglunds Drives AB; "Tying up the loose ends in the creel room: A review of creel room improvements," Ray Slezak, RJS; "The rubber process optimization system - an integrated software/hardware system to reduce factory costs and improve productivity," Henri Burhin, Alpha Technologies; "Robotics in the tire industry," Mike Henson, C&D Robotics; "Creel handling improvements," Joe Martin, McCoy-Ellison; "Latest developments in x-ray technology for tire inspection," speaker from Yxlon; and "SIS: Steelcord inspection system/ spacing detector," Dr. Friedham Goronzy, Roland Electronics.

Thursday, January 11 - Session 1 - Tire Design and Development: "Examples of degradation mechanisms in elastomers," Dr. Al Causa, Goodyear Tire & Rubber; "A review of structure/property relationships in polymers for tire compounding," Howard Colvin, Goodyear Chemical; "Structure-property relationships based on thermal field flow fractionation of tire elastomers," Morgan S. Sibbald, Goodyear Chemical; "Synthetic silicas are increasingly replacing colloidal carbon blacks in some applications such as car tires," Dr. M.A. Ansarifar, Loughborough University; "New generation SM blacks," Dr. S. Chakraborty, Phillips Carbon Black; "Highly dispersible reactive silicas (HRDS) for high performance tires," P. Cochet, Rhodia Silica; "Ozone test chambers for rubber aging," Klaus Nonnenmacher, Anseros; "Tire elastomers - interesting new developments," Adrian Rawlinson, Bayer AG; "Tires and rubber - their relationship and future scenarios," Dr. Prachaya Jumpasut, IRSG; "An analysis of the properties required for cords used in cap ply from both tire manufacturing and tire performance point of view," Jippe van Ruiten, DSM Research; "Current resorcinol formaldehyde resins and their use in optimizing steelcord adhesion," Mark A. Lawrence, Indspec Chemical; "Modified emulsion SBR for the use of silica in tires," Takeshi Karato, Zeon; "Technologies developed producing nylon over 30 years in relation to Radici Group's new entry into the tire market," Fausto Uberto Bona, Radici Group; "A new approach to the testing of carbon black and rubber compounds," Markus Schreyer, Gebr. Haake; "Rosin: Chemistry and applications in rubber," Alan Phillips, Arizona Chemicals; and "Lasting performance of rayon," Frits Elkink, Acordis Industrial Fibers.

Thursday, January 11 - Session 2 - Tire Manufacturing: "Latest developments in TBMs and tire curing," Holger Studt, Krupp Elastomertechnik GmbH; "The benefits of modular plastic belts in the mill room," Joe de Paso, Intralox; "The use of cobalt as adhesion promoters in radial tires," Audin Boerve, Shepherd Chemical; "Quality cost in relation to reducing actual costs," Ms. Shaebaani, Kian Tire; "In-process profile measurement using machine vision technology," Rolf Svensson, Bytewise; "Modular tire manufacturing," J.J. Spanjer, VMI EPE Holland; "Optimizing tire cord dipping lines," Hans Schneider, C.A. Litzler; and "Removing fouling from curing molds in the press with dry ice pellet blasting: Improving tire quality while increasing production output," Fred C. Young, Cold Jet.

Thursday, January 11, Session 3 - Tire Industry Litigation: "Results and remedies casebook," Rex Grogan, tire litigation specialist.

Friday, January 12 - Session 1 - Tire Recycling: "European Tire Recycling Association," Dr. Valerie Shulman, ETRA; "Rubber recycling process in India," S.K. Sethi, Modi Rubber Ltd.; "A natural rubber reclaim technique with low oil content," Henk-Jan Manuel, Vredestein Rubber Resources; "A new development in melting the tire mountain," David Brown, Watson Brown HSM Ltd.; "Producer responsibility - options, opportunities and realities," Peter Taylor, The Tyre Industry Council; and "Tire recycling by pyrolysis process: New oil supplies from old tires," Dave Goucher and Nick Ross, Coalite Tire Services Ltd.

Friday, January 12 - Session 2 - Intelligent Tires for Safe Highways of the Future: "Sidewall tension sensors for ABS," Dr. Thomas Becherer, Continental Tires; "Tire intelligence collection for safer highways," Steve Phillips, TRL; "Linking information from satellites to the tire's contact patch to enhance traffic safety," Thomas Bachmann, BMW; "Drive by tire," Daniel Dennehy, Warwick University; and "Driver warning systems," Bernd Schuhardt, Dunlop.

Friday, January 12 - Session 3 - Tire Design and Development: "Energy loss in heavy vehicle tires and suspensions," Dr. A.A. Popov, University of Nottingham; "Measurement and analysis of irregular wear," Rolf Beck, Wolf & Beck GmbH; "Comparative performance evaluation of 16.9-28 12 PR rear tractor tires when fitted to W15L rim configurations in both farm and road service," Ravindra Jain, JK Tire; "New ECE 109 regulation problems relating to retreading fires and the random drum tire results from both new tires and retreads when tested to Reg 54," John O'Connell, Bandvulc; "Simulation of rolling resistance for pulsed P-DMTS," Dr. Horst Deckmann, Gabo Qaulimeter Testanlagen; "Tire road noise testing with Triton," Steve Phillips, TRL; "Measurement of off-road test replications in the laboratory," Marcus J. Oliver, Cranfield University; "The effects of unbalanced fires in vehicle ride quality," John Funcheon, ITW; and "Tire uniformity testing in the automotive service industry," Dave Scribner, Hunter Engineering.

Registration for Tire Technology Expo 2001 costs $875 for the three-day open delegate pass. Two-day and one-day passes are also available for $645 and $395, respectively. Delegate passes provide open access to all sessions. Further information is available from U.K. & International Press, tel.: [phone]; fax: [phone].