100 million tires made with Michelin ResiCare’s formaldehyde-free araminolic resin – a safer future for tire manufacturing

100 Million Tires Made with Michelin ResiCare’s Formaldehyde-Free Araminolic Resin – A Safer Future for Tire Manufacturing

In 2006, Michelin's laboratories embarked on a journey to develop a non-toxic, high-performance resin solution. This ambition gave birth to ResiCare, a dedicated entity to take this innovation accessible to the entire industry, including Michelin's competitors.
The results speak for themselves: over 100 million tires have been manufactured using ResiCare resin, marking a major milestone in sustainable tire production.

This image highlights Michelin’s ResiCare resin in the foreground, with a tire and a plant in the background to symbolize the fusion of high-performance tire technology and green chemistry. ResiCare offers a formaldehyde-free, sustainable alternative for tire reinforcement adhesives.

ResiCare Resi4 TEX resin close-up used in 100 million tires for a safer tire manufacturing.

A plug & play innovation

ResiCare resin replaces the resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) component in the traditional RFL (Resorcinol Formaldehyde Latex) solution enabling manufacturers to maintain adhesion and peel strength, without modifying their existing dipping lines. This plug & play approach ensures a smooth transition to safer chemistry, with minimal disruption to production.

ResiCare's solution, free from substances meeting SVHC (Substances of Very High Concern) criteria, offers a safer alternative. Formaldehyde, classified as a carcinogen 1B since 2016, and Resorcinol, recognized as a Category 1 endocrine disruptor by EU and REACH regulations.

Proven at scale & premium by design

ResiCare is already fully deployed at industrial scale across Europe and Asia and has been validated by 5 major converters allowing an international network with 8 industrial sites producing. It has been tested and deployed globally, with strong support from Michelin’s teams to overcome industrialization and scale-up challenges. Today, ResiCare is not just a viable alternative, it’s the fastest-deployed RF-free system on the market.

While some may be tempted to compare costs per kilogram, this misses the broader value proposition. ResiCare is a premium solution but not just in price, in what it delivers. Traditional RF resins come with hidden costs: regulatory compliance, worker safety measures, and environmental liabilities. European directives like 2004/37 are already pushing manufacturers to reduce formaldehyde exposure. ResiCare anticipates this shift, offering a future-proof alternative that reduces risk and simplifies operations.

High-resolution microscopic image showing the structure of a nylon textile reinforcement. These fibers are essential for ensuring mechanical strength and durability in tire manufacturing.

Close-up image of nylon textile fibers used in tire reinforcement applications.

This detailed microscopic close-up reveals the adhesion interface between nylon fibers and rubber, achieved with Michelin ResiCare’s araminolic, formaldehyde-free resin. The strong bond enhances tire durability while ensuring safer, sustainable manufacturing.

Microscopic image of nylon textile reinforcement bonded to tire rubber using formaldehyde-free ResiCare resin.

Visual representation of the milestone achieved by Michelin ResiCare: over 100 million tires manufactured worldwide with its formaldehyde-free, high-performance araminolic resin. A breakthrough in sustainable tire production.

Illustration celebrating 100 million tires produced using ResiCare resin.

New chemistry, same strength

The Resi4TEX technology is projected to transition to a bio-based model y 2027. This resin belongs to the “Araminolic” chemistry family, which aims to replace and substitute phenolic resins on the market with resins that are predominantly 100% bio-based and non-toxic. This innovative chemistry, termed "Araminolic" resins, not only matches but often exceeds the performance characteristics required for tire reinforcement. Despite being a novolak phenolic resin, this new generation of resin behaves like its predecessors in terms of performance, with added benefits.

In the adhesive, composed of resin and latex, Resi4TEX provides temperature and fatigue resistance by forming a three-dimensional network, while the latex component contributes flexibility and reactivity with rubbers. This combination enables the bonding of textile reinforcements to various types of rubber and textiles.

The adhesion performance achieved with Resi4TEX is comparable to traditional resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resins across many textile reinforcements such as Polyester (PET), Nylon 6, Nylon 66, aramid, and rayon:

Peel strength and peel patterns (cohesive failure within the rubber) delivered by Resi4TEX are on par with or even exceed market benchmarks.
Tensile strength values (pull-test) are equivalent to those of RF resins. This test measures the physical forces resulting from the interpenetration and interlocking of the resin with fiber.
Resi4TEX demonstrates superior performance in fatigue tests, which assess the degradation of rubber-fabric adhesion over numerous cycles around a pulley.

Leading the industry towards a safer future

The tire industry is clearly moving towards RF-free solutions, with many leading manufacturers developing their own alternatives. ResiCare stands out by offering a proven, robust solution already in industrial production by Michelin. This milestone of 100 million tires manufactured using ResiCare resin is not just symbolic, it represents a significant environmental achievement. By avoiding the use of approximately 30 tons of formaldehyde, Michelin ResiCare is paving the way for a safer, more sustainable future in tire manufacturing.

Switch to Resi4TEX - the formaldehyde-free resin powering 100M tires:

Publication Date: 06/30/2025