TREADS: tyre nanoparticles produced using a bench-top tyre wear simulator

TREADS, the Tyre Rubber Emission And Debris System, is an instrument that can produce high concentrations of sub-micron tyre wear particles, with a size distribution that matches established literature descriptions of nano-tyre particles, in a portable and adaptable device that is compatible with cell exposure systems for toxicological assessment. Test cycles of one-hour with TREADS showed a constant particle concentration averaging between 2-6 × 10⁶ cm^-3, depending on the tyre sampled. These particles were round, consistent with a gas-to-particle conversion and were produced at rubber temperatures between 37 and 44 °C. TREADS is the first low-cost, bench-top and portable system able to produce nano-TPs and is designed to be reproducible and user-friendly, allowing for hour-long generation of nano-TPs free from any environmental or road surface contamination.