Fraunhofer TERIS Reaches Milestone in Tyre Abrasion Analysis

Fraunhofer’s Technology Platform for Tire Abrasion and the Identification of Its Emissions in Road Traffic (TERIS) is a partnership between the ICT, IGD and IWM institutes led by the Fraunhofer LBF (Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability). The project has reached its first major milestone in developing standardized laboratory methods for generating, analysing and predicting tyre wear.

Fraunhofer LBF researchers have developed a basic design concept for an abrasion machine intended to generate and collect realistic tyre abrasion from rubber samples. The team analysed various existing test bench designs and adapted requirements from real-world driving data to laboratory conditions. The machine’s design enables adjustment of multiple parameters affecting tyre abrasion, whilst particle collection and detection are handled by other work packages within the project.

Results from the TERIS project have so far covered reference abrasion generation, particle analysis, tribological modelling, AI-based surface analysis, a test bench concept, and methods for accelerated ageing and VOC detection.

The project aims to give tyre manufacturers, testing laboratories and environmental agencies faster, more reliable laboratory procedures for assessing tyre-related emissions. The results will support material and tyre development and improve forecasting based on digitised driving data.

The project combines multiple collection and measurement techniques to analyse both airborne and settled tyre wear particles. Researchers are also developing tribological models – the study of interacting surfaces in relative motion, including friction, wear and lubrication – to examine both experimentally and theoretically how load, material properties and surface structure relate to particle formation. This enables real-world abrasion processes to be reproduced under controlled laboratory conditions.

A specialised test chamber for accelerated ageing enables samples to be preconditioned in a targeted and reproducible manner under environmental stress, allowing researchers to investigate its influence on tyre abrasion.

A major advancement is the development of an optical detection system that uses artificial intelligence to precisely identify and classify surface structures. The approach has been validated using substitute materials and will be applied to real rubber samples in the next phase.

The consortium has also designed a test bench concept that combines the generation of rubber abrasion under multiaxial loading, targeted particle detection and the integration of optical sensors in a laboratory setup. In addition, the combination of weathering and chemical analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) generated by tyre abrasion enables assessment of the environmental impact of the particles.

The results provide the basis for an accelerated, practical and well-founded evaluation of new rubber compounds in the laboratory. Fraunhofer states that the project will provide tyre manufacturers, testing services and environmental agencies with tools that enable them to “specifically reduce emissions, evaluate new products more quickly and meet the requirements of the Euro 7 standard”.