On January 25, 2025, Shandong Province’s top ten scientific and technological innovation achievements were released. Among them, the research and development process of high-end tire barrier material DVA is a vivid portrayal of China’s manufacturing industry’s transformation from a pursuer to a pioneer.
It not only fills the technological gap, but also proves to the world the strength of China’s manufacturing.
The automobile industry is changing with each passing day, but tires are crucial as a key component.
A tire has three layers of microstructure. The outermost tread determines rolling resistance and other properties; the middle belt layer and carcass bear the weight; and the innermost air barrier layer locks in tire pressure.
However, as for the air barrier material, butyl rubber mass-produced by American companies in 1943 has been used for many years. Although it has strong air tightness, it is heavy in weight. It is in urgent need of change under the trend of lightweight automobiles.
Globally, the new generation of air-blocking material DVA developed by ExxonMobil in 2008 has an air-blocking effect 7 to 10 times that of traditional materials. It can reduce tire weight by nearly 1 kilogram and is regarded as a “disruptive” technology.
However, in the past 20 years, DVA has not really entered the market.
At the same time, a Chinese R&D team composed of materials companies, universities and tire manufacturers, after 17 years of hard work, took the lead in mastering the full set of DVA industrialization technology that adapts to existing tire processes.
Among them, the high-end tire barrier materials of Shandong Dawn Polymer Materials Co., Ltd. were selected as the top ten scientific and technological innovation achievements in Shandong Province in 2025.
Currently, test vehicles equipped with DVA tires have been tested on the road in many cities in China, and preliminary data shows that the performance indicators have met expectations.
The Chinese team’s DVA research began in 2008. After Tian Hongchi, general manager of Daun, learned about the successful development of DVA, he led the team on the journey.
Dawn cooperated with Beijing University of Chemical Technology and adopted a reverse research path, but the research and development process continued to suffer setbacks.
After 12 years of hard work, the performance indicators of Dawn’s samples finally almost coincided with those of ExxonMobil’s samples.
However, when entering the mass production stage, problems arose.
DVA’s viscosity is too poor to be used on existing production lines, which also explains why DVA has not been able to enter the market before.
At this time, Dawn and Linglong Tire came together.
Linglong has previously rejected ExxonMobil’s cooperation plan and is determined to independently develop DVA.
In 2020, the two parties will formally cooperate to jointly overcome the difficulties of embedding laboratory innovation into the industrial chain.
The R&D team invented the “bi-continuous heterogeneous cross-linked structure” and proposed a new solution to “adapt the material to the production line”.
Although the solution is simple, it subverts tradition by delivering a reactive and extremely unstable material.
The first batch of samples failed to go online, but the R&D team did not give up.
They gradually discovered that the key to success or failure lies in precise control of reaction time, so they independently designed a pipeline reaction device.
After continuous adjustments, the window period of material viscosity was extended from a few minutes to more than 15 days.
DVA’s counterattack may seem accidental, but in fact it is inevitable.
China’s industrial ecology provides huge space for innovation.
Today, China’s new energy vehicle production and sales have ranked first in the world for many consecutive years, and many tire brands have emerged.
In such an industrial ecosystem, innovators have the confidence to continue exploring.
Not long ago, a “new car-making force” proposed the goal of building “super tires”, which may start a new round of innovation in the tire industry.
China’s industrial ecology is driving China’s manufacturing to new heights.
