NXT™ Silanes for Fuel-Efficient, High-Performance Tires

Momentive has developed NXT™ silanes, a revolutionary brand of coupling agents for silica tire compounds. Although consumers may not know they are there, NXT™ silanes in tire compounds can help lower fuel consumption by lowering rolling resistance of tires while improving wet traction. These properties help make a more safe, reliable and efficient tire.

Manufacturers have selected NXT™ silanes because they can enable improved processing in silica compounds compared to most standard sulfur silanes. NXT™ silanes are a blocked mercaptosilane. This makes NXT™ silanes more thermally stable - allowing for higher mixing temperatures with shorter mixing cycles under most conditions - and may help the overall throughput of a given mixer and also may lead to reduced waste. The plasticizing effect of the molecule allows NXT™ silanes to reduce compound viscosity versus most standard sulfur silanes, and may lead to a reduction of total mix cycles. Lower compound viscosity may also positively affect downstream processes such as milling and extrusion. NXT™ silane-containing compounds also exhibit improved aged viscosity stability, typically allowing for a green compound to stay on the manufacturing floor with little to no viscosity increase.

NXT™ silanes can have a positive environmental impact by enabling improved rolling resistance, which can help reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Compounds that incorporate NXT™ silanes may help achieve a lower Payne Effect, lower tan delta at 60° C, increased resilience and excellent low-temperature dynamic properties (-20° C to 10° C). When used with high-surface-area silica and functionalized polymers, NXT™ silanes may ease the processing of high-performance compounds.

Browse our products to find the right NXT™ silane for your production process.