The paradigm shift has started

Automotive Industries, Spring, 2008 by Rob White

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Almost since Scotish inventor John Boyd Dunlop made the first pneumatic tire in 1887 (followed by the first puncture), the search has been on for an alternative to air to fill tires.

Nevada-based Amerityre was founded in 1995 as the American tire Corporation. During its initial years, it developed polyurethane foam tires based on the company's proprietary polyurethane chemical formulations. Since the tires were fabricated using a closed cell polyurethane material, they could never go flat--which led to the registration of the Flatfree trademark. Today these tires are used in applications such as bicycles, wheelchairs, lawn and garden products, golf carts and commercial dollies.

In 1999 the company changed its name to Amerityre Corporation and continued development of the Flatfree technology. In 2003, it started working on polyurethane Elastothane elastomer technology. This technology allowed the development of a comprehensive line of tires and tire products based on polyurethane instead of rubber. These products include tire fill, solid tires, composite tires and pneumatic passenger vehicle tires.

People have been trying to manufacture flat free tires since the 1920's. "Amerityre believes that it has managed to surmount the problems faced by others, such as heaviness, lack of shock absorbency, tendency to wear out quickly and excessive absorption of moisture," says Richard A. Steinke, former chairman and CEO.

In April 2004 Amerityre successfully completed testing to Federal Motor Safety Vehicle Standard (FMVSS) 109 with its Arcus run-flat design passenger car tire and in November 2007 successfully completed testing to the new FMVSS 139 specification.

Some of the company's other products include Flatfree polyurethane foam tires for low speed and utility vehicle applications, environmentally friendly tire fill materials of both closed cell foam and elastomer polyurethane materials, to flat-proof rubber tires. The company also makes solid tires and composite tires as well as pneumatic tires.

Automotive Industries (AI) spoke to Gary Benninger, president and CEO of Amerityre Corporation.

AI: Tell us about the new developments with polyurethane-filled tires.

Benninger: Amerityre has developed two polyurethane tire fill materials: one is foam based while the other is an elastomer based solution. The foam, which is similar to the polyurethane foam used in our low duty cycle tires, is used for low to medium-load applications, while the elastomer is used in medium to highload applications. The foam fill material allows users to reduce cost and weight compared to other tire fills currently in use. Amerityre's tire fill materials have superior environmental properties when compared to most other tire fills that are in use today. All Amerityre materials can be recycled or disposed of without fear of environmental contamination. Other elastomer tire fills incorporate oils as fillers to reduce the cost of the product. These oils can cause serious environmental problems, since over time they can leach out of the fill material and damage the tire causing it to leak. Even worse, the oil filled material presents a serious disposal problem at the end of the life of the product. Some state and national governments are currently considering legislation that could ban use of the current oil filled materials due to their negative environmental impact.

AI: What impact do you think your Arcus flat-free tires will have on the tire market--how will it revolutionize the tire market?

Benninger: Additional testing by independent test laboratories has shown that the rolling resistance of the polyurethane Arcus tire is from 36% to 50% less than an equivalent rubber tire depending on the load and air pressure. This translates into an 8% to 10% improvement in vehicle fuel economy. Not only does this help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but also reduces the amount of greenhouse gases discharged into our atmosphere. Some advantages for the consumer and the manufacturer are that it runs cooler for a longer life, its lower rolling resistance gives improved fuel economy, the single material pour reduces the possibility of separation, and it is a potential lower price due to reduced manufacturing cost. In addition, when compared to a similar rubber tire, the polyurethane pneumatic car tire manufacturing process will require a lower capital investment, a lower tooling cost, less floor Space, lower energy costs and lower labor costs, and will result in less scrap and waste.

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AI: How much of the tire market do you think Arcus could account for?

Benninger: Amerityre believes that this technology will replace the rubber tire.

AI: What are Amerityre's plans for the future?

Benninger: Amerityre is in discussions with potential strategic partners for the construction and installation of a pilot manufacturing facility capable of demonstrating its production capability with potential strategic partners. Our tire manufacturing technology brings significant cost reductions. Amerityre estimates that the capital investment required for a potential manufacturer to produce one polyurethane passenger car tire per minute will be less than US$10-million. This amount is one-sixth to one-eighth the cost of an equivalent rubber passenger car tire manufacturing line.