Smithers Rapra recently unveiled the MTS Flat-Trac CT Plus Tire Test System at an open house in Ravenna, Ohio. The $7 milliom system was added to the test facility in partnership with six tire manufacturers: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Bridgestone Americas Inc., Michelin North America Inc., Continental Tire the Americas LLC, Hankook Tire America Corp. and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.
The addition was part of an expansion that also created additional space for offices, conference rooms for client and project meetings, storage, and space for additional testing capabilities that are currently in development.
"This expansion at the Ravenna laboratory allows us to offer enhanced capabilities, increased capacity, and even more comprehensive service for our clients," says Dr. Jim Popio, vice president of North American Operations. "We thank the partner companies who have collaborated with us to address this need to accommodate larger tires for testing as well as the need for more demanding testing conditions. Thanks to their support, Smithers is strengthening our service portfolio in an automotive market that increasingly favors larger vehicles."
The new CT Plus test system at the Ravenna test center allows Smithers to conduct assessments on most passenger car and light truck tires on the market today by simulating real world driving conditions and collecting tire performance data. The machine provides higher wheel torque as well as increased longitudinal and lateral load limits. It is engineered to deliver accurate and repeatable measurements of tire force and moment properties under steady-state and dynamic conditions in order to provide higher fidelity tire models, which assist in meeting validation and timing requirements.
Smithers Rapra, one of six business units under the Smithers Group umbrella, operates laboratories in North America, Europe, and Asia, covering a wide variety of testing and consulting services from material chemistry and product durability testing to tire, wheel and winter testing.
Smithers’ global network of ISO 17025 accredited tire test laboratories perform a wide variety of SAE, ASTM, ISO, UNECE and EC tests supporting raw material suppliers, tire manufacturers, and automotive OEMs. For more information about Smithers Rapra, visit www.smithersrapra.com.
