Nancy Winchester

director, R&D, rubber and adhesives additives

Dr Nancy Winchester manages R&D and application testing for new additive development for rubber and adhesives for SI Group. Winchester joined SI Group in May 2023 from Momentive Performance Materials, where she held the position of global technology manager, tire and rubber silanes. Spanning 30 years in industry, Winchester drove innovation as vice president, technology and innovation at DanChem and in various leading roles in research and technical services at Chevron, Phillips Petroleum Company and elsewhere. She holds PhD and BSc degrees from the University of Kansas and an engineering management master's degree from Oklahoma State.

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Presentation

Making it stick – SVHC-free tackifiers for demanding tack applications

Widely used phenolic tackifiers are coming under increased regulatory pressure. At the same time, the performance requirements of tires, especially for demanding applications, e.g. electric vehicles, become ever more challenging. Increased silica loadings in advanced tires make rubber-to-rubber bonding more difficult. As a leading supplier to the industry, SI Group has developed both a low residual monomer standard tackifier and an SVHC-free super tackifier, the latter showing optimized performance even in high-silica tread compounds. It also shows excellent tack retention in NR/BR rubber systems. A case study of selected new tackifiers will be presented and their application benefits discussed.