Tire manufacturing
The rubber industry, and particularly the tire manufacturing industry, is one of the most heavily nanomaterial-using industries. Today, several substances defined as nanomaterials are included in the composition of tires.
The most common substances are powders of carbon black and of amorphous silica. Given the emerging awareness of the use of nanomaterials and the real benefit that they provide in products, these industries are openly engaged in a risk management policy (see work published at the OECD).
An accurate knowledge of exposure will make it possible for these industries to determine whether they need to strengthen their prevention strategies.
Key questions
Although these substances are in fact among the least hazardous categories of nanomaterials, their nanoparticle content cannot be totally ignored, and actions to strengthen prevention strategies may need to be anticipated. As they are already in massive use, the important thing today is to properly understand exposure in numerous real-world situations and therefore to have routine technologies for measurement in complex environments. PARTICLEVER provides new advances in the matter, particularly by taking agglomerate density measurements. This metric has recently been described in the latest scientific literature as being better-suited for measuring exposure doses than specific surface area.
