science

Lehigh Technologies

Lehigh Technologies is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lehigh Technologies rather than just read about it. In short: Lehigh Technologies is a specialty materials company that manufactures micronized rubber powders (MRP). Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Lehigh Technologies operates a MRP manufacturing plant at its headquarters, with an annual production capacity of more than 100 million pounds.

Key takeaways

Lehigh Technologies belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lehigh Technologies to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lehigh Technologies from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lehigh Technologies is a specialty materials company that manufactures micronized rubber powders (MRP). Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Lehigh Technologies operates a MRP manufacturing plant at its headquarters, with an annual production capacity of more than 100 million pounds. Lehigh also operates a MRP research, and development facility, its Application & Development Center.

History and growth Lehigh Technologies has been manufacturing MRP at its commercial plant since 2007. According to Lehigh, the company has demonstrated steady growth since it began manufacturing MRP at commercial scale. In 2010, Lehigh was selected as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The awards program recognizes companies from around the world that are involved in the design, development and deployment of new technologies that are set to have a significant impact on business and society. In June 2011, Lehigh announced that more than 100 million tires on the road had been manufactured using the company's MRP. In 2014, the company announced that more than 250 million tires produced to date had incorporated MRP. In October 2017, Lehigh Technologies was acquired by Michelin as part of Michelin's "4R" circular economy strategy.

Research and development In November 2010, Lehigh expanded its in-house capabilities with the launch of the Application & Development Center (ADC), a dedicated research and development facility staffed by a team of industry professionals. The stated mission of the ADC is to develop new applications for MRP and to accelerate adoption of existing MRP applications by improving understanding of MRP chemistry, providing expert advice for new material formulations that incorporate MRP, and developing new materials based on MRP. In January 2014, Lehigh announced an expansion of its ADC that includes the hiring of new technical staff and investment in new mixing and analytical equipment. According to Lehigh, this expansion improves the ADC's ability to develop functional materials based on MRP.

Operations In addition to its production facility in Atlanta, Lehigh has developed a network of partners and distributors.

Asia Lehigh partnered with Connell Brothers Corporation (CBC), the largest distributor of specialty chemicals and ingredients in Asia-Pacific, to market its MRP in Japan, In 2014, Lehigh announced an expanded partnership with CBC, aimed at broadening industry outreach, supply chain efficiency and technical support in Japan, as well as introducing MRP to South Korea and Southeast Asia. In September 2014, Lehigh announced the closing of an $8 million fundraise with JSR Corporation, a $4 billion specialty chemicals company based in Japan, to support the company's geographic expansion and technology roadmap for MRP in the region.

South America In October 2011, Lehigh expanded into Brazil with the appointment of a country manager. In December 2012, Lehigh announced a partnership with Andes Chemical Corporation to market MRP in Central America.

Europe In September 2012, Lehigh partnered with HERA Holding, a Spanish waste-to-resource company, to market MRP to the tire, consumer, and industrial plastics and coatings industries in Europe. In 2018 Lehigh and Hera announced the completion and startup of a manufacturing facility in Spain to supply EMEA markets.

Investors Since 2008, Lehigh has raised more than $50 million from investors that include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Index Ventures, Leaf Clean Energy and NGP Energy Technology Partners.

Technology

Lehigh has commercialized a proprietary cryogenic turbo mill technology that transforms end-of-life tires and post-industrial rubber materials into micronized rubber powders. Lehigh produces MRP from vulcanized elastomeric material, most often end-of-life tire material. However, it can also be produced from post-industrial nitrile rubber, ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), butyl, and natural rubber compounds.

Products Lehigh's MRPs are available in two product lines, PolyDyne and MicroDyne. Industries incorporating MRP into their products include tire, automotive, construction, industrial components and consumer products. It is also used as an additive in tires, plastics, asphalt, coatings, and sealants. MRP can also be incorporated into prime or recycled grade polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and nylons. Additionally, the incorporation of MRPs in thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) and thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) makes it a feasible ingredient for automotive and building and construction applications. The particle size distributions of Lehigh's MRP typically range from 830 μm (20 mesh) to 50 μm (300 mesh), and its MRP is free of foreign particulates, such as metal and fiber.

Third-Generation Technology Lehigh claims that its cryogenic turbo mill technology represents an evolution over previous post-manufactured rubber technologies. The most common rubber processing technology converts end-of-life tire and post-industrial rubber material into rubber chips that are typically one inch or larger. These chips are then used in tire-derived fuel and civil engineering projects. A second-generation processing technology converts end-of-life tire and rubber material into crumb rubber, also known as ground tire rubber (GTR). GTR typically comprises chips between one inch and 30 mesh in size, with the associated fiber and steel mostly removed. This material is used in asphalt, as garden mulch and in playgrounds. Because of the material's smaller size, Lehigh markets its micrometer-scale MRP as a third-generation rubber processing technology. MRP's size and composition enables it to be incorporated into advanced and higher-value applications.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lehigh Technologies

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lehigh Technologies claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lehigh Technologies before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lehigh Technologies ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lehigh Technologies

In research: Lehigh Technologies appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lehigh Technologies in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lehigh Technologies is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Recycling, Rubber industry, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lehigh Technologies outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lehigh Technologies in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lehigh Technologies means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lehigh Technologies out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lehigh Technologies in simple terms?

Why does Lehigh Technologies matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lehigh Technologies?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lehigh Technologies.