Tyre Derived Steel

Most modern vehicular tires contain steel as reinforcement, as belts in the sidewalls of the tires and as bead wire (which anchors the tire to the wheel rim). Steel used for tire beads is usually high-tensile bronze-coated wire; high-tensile brass-coated steel cord is used in the construction of tire steel belts. These coatings are important because both obviously contain copper, which is a potential contaminant when it comes to recycling the steel. It should be noted that this copper is an important constituent in helping to develop CuS (copper sulphide) links between the rubber and the steel, thereby facilitating the bonding of the rubber to the steel reinforcement.