The risk of tyre bursts and highway robberies during long drives could come considerably down if polymer scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee have a way with a novel product they just developed.

Gaurav Manik of department of polymer and process engineering at IIT Roorkee and his students have developed a proprietary sealant that would help vehicle tyres to retain 75 to 100 per cent of air inside even after a puncture has occurred. Moreover, the sealant comes handy in preventing tyre bursts that could happen during long distance drives.

“Tyres burst because temperature inside the tyres climb to as high as 100 degrees Celsius during non-stop long drives,” Manik said.

Strong adhesive

The sealant, which contains several additives, is a semi-solid solution and has strong adhesive property that helps it line the tyres. “It is capable of sealing holes created by objects up to 9 mm diameter, the IIT scientist said.

The sealant was developed with funding provided by the Mumbai-based Deniar Trading India, which is into importing many products, including sealants. “They approached us because they were unhappy with the quality of imported sealants, which were also very costly,” he said.

“We are very happy with the laboratory and field trial results of the sealant we developed. The R&D team achieved all objectives of development and improvements over the existing sealant imported and sold in India,” said Deepak Malviya, CEO of Deniar, which is planning to set up a manufacturing unit for the sealant — to be named Persea Tyre Sealant — near Mumbai. The plant is expected to come up by the end of this year, he said.

Advantages

According to him, the products has several advantages over imported products. Firstly, the puncture size sealing has been improved by 50 per cent to a diameter of 9 mm. Secondly, its operating temperature range significantly high, making it suitable for extreme weather and poor road conditions in the country.

Besides, the scientists have been able to improve the anti-sagging property — which happens because of cycles of rotating and static conditions — of the sealant by working on its composition, Malviya said.

The firm is already talking to various OEMs of automobile companies. The market size of the sealant is actually unexplored, but the market size of tubeless tyre could be the market size for sealants too, Malviya said.

Malviya said the product would be reasonably priced.

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