Component preparation

Components fall into two classes based on manufacturing process: calendaring and extrusion.

Calendering

Similar in appearance to rubber blending and feeding mills, calenders press rubber compounds between two or more rotating rolls to form thin, flat sheets of rubber to specified gauges. Control systems can regulate the sheet thickness to within 0.001”.  The sheets are used in tire assembly for inner-liner, gum strips, or belt wedges, or in preparing body ply or stabilizer ply material.

Extrusion

Rubber components (e.g. treads,apex and sidewalls) are shaped by forcing rubber through a die opening of appropriate shape. The extruder in a tire manufacturing process is a screw-type system, consisting primarily of an extruder barrel and extruder head. First, the rubber compound is fed into the extruder barrel where it goes through a heating, blending, and pressurizing process. Then, the rubber compound flows to the extruder head where it is shaped under pressure. The modern cold-feed extruder is computer-controlled for accuracy. Up to four barrels may feed a single die, allowing co-extrusion of different compounds into a single component, e.g. tread and sub-tread with sidewall wings.

We have on stock different extruders and calenders for manufacturing passenger tires (PCR), off the road tires (OTR), tuck, agricultural tractor and implement tires.

Click here for extruders catalog

Click here for calenders catalog