Michelin Road 5: Lasting performance through 3D metal printing

Imagine a motorcycle tyre tread that regenerates itself with evolving sipes. How is this possible? As you eat up the miles, grooves appear and the tread pattern on the tyre increases to maintain the best possible water evacuation. That’s what XST Evo sipes do. The sipes can be found on the Michelin Road 5, the first motorcycle tyre to utilise 3D metal printing technology.

With this new generation of sipes, Michelin is innovating even further, using the expertise and experience gained in 3D metal printing to design and manufacture the necessary moulds. The new technology allows the tyre to be used to its maximum wear level. Michelin says this means that after 3,000 miles, a worn Road 5 tyre brakes just as well and over as short as distance as a new Michelin Pilot Road 4.

How does 3D metal printing work?

Completely digital, 3D metal printing is used to make the sipes in the curing moulds for the Michelin Road 5. The process creates complex geometries because the material is added layer by layer. Tyre developers can therefore design new and complex treads, further improving the tyre’s performance.

Other advantages of 3D printing for making moulds include simplified assembly, savings in weight and materials, and expanded opportunity for part customisation. Its industrial application enables the high-precision manufacture of the ‘siped’ product with very high repeatability.

Tyres & Accessories previously reported how Michelin’s move into additive manufacturing, in a joint venture with French 3D printing company Fives, has helped to improve the longevity and worn tyre performance of its X Multi range.

Metal additive manufacture

Additive manufacture is today commonly used by industrial companies in plastics, yet metal additive manufacturing or 3D metal printing is a flourishing recent market – and Michelin is one of its pioneers. Since 2006, the company has been developing unique expertise in the design and production of large series of complex parts and moulds using metal additive manufacture, expertise that we find today in the design and production of mould siping to create the tread of the Michelin Road 5 tyre. For several years now, this technology has been applied to different touring and heavy truck tyre ranges: Michelin Premier A/S, Premier LTX, CrossClimate, X Line Energy and X-Multi. In April 2016, Michelin also joined forces with Fives, an expert in production machine engineering, to create the joint-venture company AddUp. With its head offices near Clermont-Ferrand, France, AddUp has its sights set on becoming a key player in metal additive manufacturing.

On the market since January 2018, the Michelin Road 5 tyre is available in 11 sizes, including four for the Trail range.