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posted by martyb on Thursday October 12 2017, @11:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the avoid-puddles dept.

Air-filled rubber tires have been around for quite a long while, though the evolution of their design has been relatively slow. But we are now seeing inklings of new innovations such as airless tires (at least for bicycles) making an appearance. They may even be 3D printed someday, as French tire company Michelin is proposing with this biodegradable concept tire that is uses computational design to come up with a sensor-equipped tire that can be modified whenever needed, using on-demand additive manufacturing technology.

Presented in a striking blue hue, Michelin's Vision tire has a spongy "permanent structure" that's produced by computational design tools, giving it an organic look that's quite different from the black rubber tires we are so accustomed to. It's this web-like yet solid structure that allows the tire to function without air, eliminating any possibility of a flat tire. The company says that the tire would be made out of organic and recyclable rubber compounds; for example, using orange zest, hay, paper and metal instead of petroleum and synthetic elastomers.

Michelin is behind this concept, so it's less vaporware than usual.


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  • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Friday October 13 2017, @03:06PM (1 child)

    by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 13 2017, @03:06PM (#581788)

    I trust you kept your tyres well inflated, too?

    A low tyre pressure means you're more succeptible to "snakebite" punctures, where on impact the wheel rim pinches the inner tube against the ground (e.g. when hitting a pothole). I understand that a higher pressure also means tyres will tend to deflect debris, rather than letting them embed in the tyre tread and get pushed in as you ride. (I know the first from experience, the second is received wisdom.)

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Arik on Friday October 13 2017, @03:33PM

    by Arik (4543) on Friday October 13 2017, @03:33PM (#581807) Journal
    Checked em twice a day when I was pedal-commuting, yeah. These aren't "snakebit" punctures I'm talking about. They're large goats-head thorns. Natures caltrops, with very hard very thin armor-piercing spines. You can push them into tire rubber with a finger-tip, very little pressure required. Fortunately car tires are actually thick enough to bury them, although sometimes a broken off spine works its way all the way through even there.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?