Abstract
Recently, sustainable development has become a significant concern globally, and the energy crisis is one of the top priorities. From the perspective of the industrial application of polymeric materials, rubber tires are critically important in our daily lives. However, the energy consumption of tires can reach 6% of the world's total energy consumption per annum. Meanwhile, it is calculated that around 5% of carbon dioxide comes from the emission of tire rolling due to energy consumption. To overcome these severe energy and environmental challenges, designing and developing a high-performance fuel-saving tire is of paramount significance. Herein, a next-generation, eco-friendly super elastomer material based on macromolecular assembly technology has been fabricated. Hydroxyl-terminated solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (HTSSBR) with high vinyl contents prepared by anionic polymerization is used as flexible soft segments to obtain excellent wet skid resistance. Furthermore, highly symmetrical 1,5-naphthalene diisocyanate (NDI), different proportions of chain extender, and the cross-linking agent with moderate molecular length are selected as rigid hard segments to achieve simultaneous high heat resistance. Through this approach, a homogeneous network supported by uniformly distributed hard segment nanoparticles is formed because soft segments with equal length are chemically end-linked by the hard segments. This super elastomer material exhibits excellent wear resistance and low rolling resistance. More importantly, the wear resistance, rolling resistance, and wet-skid resistance are reduced by 85.4, 42.3, and 20.8%, respectively, compared to the elastomeric material conventionally used for tire. By taking advantage of this excellent comprehensive service performance, the long-standing challenge of the “magic triangle” plaguing the rubber tire industry for almost 100 years is resolved. It is anticipated that this newly designed and fabricated elastomeric material tailored for tires will become the next generation product, which could exhibit high potential for significantly cutting the fuel consumption and reducing the emission of carbon dioxide.
Highlights
Wheels are one of the greatest inventions in the history of human civilization and have led to significant improvements in work efficiency and liberation of productive force
Data from the European Union indicates that transportation energy consumption accounts for more than 20% of the world’s total energy consumption in the past 5 years and the fuel consumption of tires is 20–30% of that of the automobiles
It is estimated that decreasing rolling resistance of tires by 20% leads to a 5% reduction in fuel consumption and using B-level green tires can save 20 billion liters of gasoline and reduce 50 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year
Summary
Wheels are one of the greatest inventions in the history of human civilization and have led to significant improvements in work efficiency and liberation of productive force. We regulated the hard segment micro-structure, principally about the ratio of chain extender and cross-linking agent of the elastomers. We emphasized polyurethane materials using HTSSBR as soft segments with different ratio of cross-linking agent and chain extender.
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