As car and truck engines have become quieter and cleaner over the past decades, particulate and noise emissions from road-tyre interaction have become the dominant source of traffic-generated particulate emission and traffic noise. Both particulates (airborne or as microplastics) and noise are suspected to contribute to negative health outcomes for those living near busy roads.
LEON-T will investigate both particulate and noise emissions from tyres, and in doing so define and propose practical standardised methods for both lab and road testing—of tyre abrasion rate (mostly larger particles) and airborne particulate emissions. LEON-T will also further investigate and model the dispersion and environmental fate of these particulate emissions, as they form a sizeable fraction of microplastics found in the environment.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N°955397.