How the rubber compounds of different tire's components heat up?

Abstract

In general, there are more than a dozen different compounds used in the construction of a truck tire, whereas each compound used is formulated to optimize the overall tire performance, including heat generation. As a tire deflects, the hysteretic loss generated by all the compounds is the main source of heat build-up. The more a tire deflects, the higher the hysteretic loss and the higher the heat build-up. This means that a tire that is overloaded or underinflated for the load its carrying will generate more heat. In addition, running at higher speeds or at higher ambient temperature will also increase heat build-up. Consequently, the increased tire temperatures in the individual parts are then one of the major causes of rubber degradation and can lead to fatigue cracking, belt separation, tread block tearing and chunking. Moreover, it can affect a tire’s air permeability. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to investigate heat build-up of the real rubber compounds applied in to Multi-Purpose Tire (MPT). For that purpose, firstly the characterization of the fundamental mechanical behavior of these rubber compounds has been performed followed by systematic study of heat build-up inside and on the surface of the rubber test specimen during cyclic mechanical loading. Novel testing approach and fully instrumented facility labelled Heat Build-Up Analyzer (Coesfeld GmbH, Germany), which is based on multiaxial measuring capabilities such as dynamic multi-planar bending has been applied for the heat build-up characterization. Finally, the heat build-up properties of each rubber compound are discussed in relation to the relevant application in tire.