Elements in car and truck tires and their volatilization upon incineration

The trace metal loading of used car and truck tires and the fractions of the metals volatilized upon incineration of the tire were determined. INAA was chosen due to its multielement analysis capability and its low detection limit for many elements. A high purity planar germanium detector was used. Among the elements measured were, Al (4–150 g/g), Ti (41–730 g/g), V (0.04–0.4g/g), Mg (>80–580 g/g), Zn (1–2.2%) as typical concentrations; also some amounts of antimony, bromine and arsenic have been found. Major differences in elemental concentrations have been observed between the tread and the wall of a tire, and also between different brands.