Akron Rubber Dev Laboratory

Here at ARDL, we maintain the world's leading forensic services for rubber failure analysis, including: ARDL's President, Mr. Jerry Leyden, has been involved in tire failure analysis as a tire expert since 1975. He has testified as an expert in rubber product failure analysis in the contiguous United States, Hawaii, Alaska, Germany and the Virgin Islands. He has been employed as both a tire compounder and a tire engineer, and has written many technical articles on the failure analysis of rubber products. ARDL's laboratory is well equipped to perform non-destructive and destructive testing on tires. Non-destructive testing often requires 360 X ray, Shearography, Visual and Microscopic analysis, and documentation utilizing digital photography. When destructive testing is required and is authorized by the court, ARDL can dissect tires, test materials removed from the tire, and examine exposed surfaces with light optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy or transmission electron microscopy as appropriate. ARDL runs extensive chemical as well as physical tests on tires and tire components as required. ARDL also has a 6-station roadwheel for R&D studies or experimentation.