New starch-based filter

Goodyear has developed a new biopolymeric filler for tyres, introduced by Dr Filomeno Corvasce of Goodyear Luxembourg at the IRC '98 meeting in Paris, 12 May.

Corvasce said this filler, made from a renewable agricultural material - starch - has been used to develop 'a super-low hysteresis, low-weight' tread compound.

Large scale commercialisation of the material, as a replacement for carbon black and silica in tyres, is now in progress, said Corvasce.

Goodyear is controlling filler morphology and mictrostructure 'to allow us to choose specific viscoelasti