Lately, China prepared the PU tire of standard specification in the manner of 3D printing for the first time.

It is learned that the tire with a specification of 165 70/R12 was jointly developed by Beijing University of Chemical Technology and Shandong Linglong Tire Co., Ltd., with corresponding tire test carried out.

This tire adopts thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) material and fused deposition manufacturing (FDM) to complete 3D printing, and its inside is regular hexagon hollow structure to avoid pneumatic tire. This research project combines polyurethane material with 3D printing technology to realize integrated tire molding, and low-rolling resistance and high-wear resistance tires with different patterns and structures can be produced without mould.

Polyurethane material possesses the characteristics such as low heat build-up, high wear resistance and tear resistance. It is discovered in the preliminary research of both parties that compared with traditional rubber tire thread, the polyurethane tire bread with phase separation structure possesses lower heat build-up and lower rolling resistance, thus it is expected to be a leading material for the next generation of green tire.