Center for Tire Research (CenTiRe)

Motor Vehicle ManufacturingVirginia, United States11-50 Employees

The Center for Tire Research (CenTiRe) operates under the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center program conducting leading-edge, pre-competitive research in tire and tire related materials, tire physics (including modeling), testing, sustainability, and manufacturing.   

Our two world-class university sites, Virginia Tech and the University of Akron, have the expertise and facilities to perform the research requested by our industry members.  They also serve as an excellent training ground for students to enter industry.  

Our industry members, who come from the tire, vehicle, materials, and testing industries, are at the core of the Center.  Through involvement in the Industry Advisory Board, they cooperatively oversee the operating procedures of the Center, propose and select the research to be conducted, fund the work through their combined annual membership fees, mentor the ongoing work, and share in the results.  This process facilitates the transfer of technology from the university to the industry members, as well as linking the companies to graduate students as potential interns and future employees.

Research already conducted by CenTiRe for our members has spanned the range from molecular level filler/polymer interaction, improved compounding, material characterization, durability testing and simulation, tire/road/ice interactions, radiated noise, intelligent tire, and tire/vehicle/road surface simulations.  Many of our graduated students who gained experience in these Center-funded projects are now working in our member companies.

CenTiRe looks to continue to grow, both in its industry memberships and by adding universities with expertise that complement our already existing capabilities to better perform tire and tire-related research for our members.  Please visit centire.org for more information.

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