Tread Rubber Research Articles

Study on the Effect of the Temperature Rise of Rubber Compound on Tread Rubber Quality during Mixing Process

With the method of two-stage mixing, two different tread rubbers have been mixed in internal mixer under the different process conditions. After the experiments, test the temperature rise of rubber compound, mooney viscosity and carbon black disperisity. Study the effect of process condition change on the temperature rise of two kinds of rubber compounds and analyze the relationships between the rubber temperature rise and mooney viscosity, carbon black dispersity. The study finds that the temperature rise of rubber compound has a relationship with the rotor speed of internal mixer, rubber viscosity and filling factors, but when the temperature rise of rubber compound is steady, the carbon black dispersity of rubber compound also can be steady. After two-stage mixing, carbon black dispersity of rubber compounds have been improved obviously. These results also imply that rotor speed of internal mixer and filling factor are very important to carbon black dispersity of rubber compounds.

Tread Rubber Material Oxidation Experiment and Influence on Tire Performance

In this article, tire tread rubber material is analyzed. An experiment is designed to investigate the oxidation resistance property of the material. The micro-morphology is studied by using SEM and the amount change of chemical elements in the material is investigated by EDS. The hardness, permanent deformation and modulus are tested on the aged specimens. At last, rough analysis for these changes influence in tire performance are done correspondingly. The results show that the modules, hardness, compression permanent deformation have great changes, the microscope show that there are micro cracks in the aged rubber material, the elements also have great changes. And the analysis shows that the tread rubber oxidation has a great influence on tire performance.

Finite Element Analysis of the Material Properties’ Influence on Tire/Road Contact Pressure and Area

When designing a tire, a good contact pressure distribution and a good contact area are necessary. The contact pressure and contact area are determined by tire material and structure, but there is few public researches on these. So, in this article, tire material properties’ influence on tire/road contact pressure and area are analyzed by using finite element method. The results show that there are ten rubber materials have negative correlation with contact pressure, the most effective material is tread rubber; there are four rebar materials have positive relation with contact pressure, the major is the first belt rebar. But they are different in contact area: the most effective rebar to contact area is bead rebar. The positive and negative effect factors and the effect coefficients are obtained for the seventeen rubber materials and seven rebar materials in tire about contact pressure and contact area. That has an important guidance on tire design and engineering applications.

Comparison of Tire and Road Wear Particle Concentrations in Sediment for Watersheds in France, Japan, and the United States by Quantitative Pyrolysis GC/MS Analysis

Impacts of surface runoff to aquatic species are an ongoing area of concern. Tire and road wear particles (TRWP) are a constituent of runoff, and determining accurate TRWP concentrations in sediment is necessary in order to evaluate the likelihood that these particles present a risk to the aquatic environment. TRWP consist of approximately equal mass fractions of tire tread rubber and road surface mineral encrustations. Sampling was completed in the Seine (France), Chesapeake (U.S.), and Yodo-Lake Biwa (Japan) watersheds to quantify TRWP in the surficial sediment of watersheds characterized by a wide diversity of population densities and land uses. By using a novel quantitative pyrolysis-GC/MS analysis for rubber polymer, we detected TRWP in 97% of the 149 sediment samples collected. The mean concentrations of TRWP were 4500 (n = 49; range = 62-11 600), 910 (n = 50; range = 50-4400) and 770 (n = 50; range = 26-4600) μg/g d.w. for the characterized portions of the Seine, Chesapeake and Yodo-Lake Biwa watersheds, respectively. A subset of samples from the watersheds (n = 45) was pooled to evaluate TRWP metals, grain size and organic carbon correlations by principal components analysis (PCA), which indicated that four components explain 90% of the variance. The PCA components appeared to correspond to (1) metal alloys possibly from brake wear (primarily Cu, Pb, Zn), (2) crustal minerals (primarily Al, V, Fe), (3) metals mediated by microbial immobilization (primarily Co, Mn, Fe with TOC), and (4) TRWP and other particulate deposition (primarily TRWP with grain size and TOC). This study should provide useful information for assessing potential aquatic effects related to tire service life.

Experimental Research on the Mechanical Properties of Rubbers under Different Curing Pressures

The influence of curing pressure on rubbers’ mechanical properties was researched with experiment. The results show that the curing pressure increased appropriately can improve the curing rate and shorten the curing time. Meanwhile the curing pressure increased also can enhance the tensile strength and 300% stress at definite elongation of the rubber cured but reduce the elongation at break, tension set, tearing strength and the abrasion property of the tread rubber. The properties of each rubber are different from each other with the same curing pressure.

Экспериментальное исследование гистерезисных свойств протекторных резин в условиях циклического нагружения, характерного для автомобильных шин

Экспериментальное исследование гистерезисных свойств протекторных резин в условиях циклического нагружения, характерного для автомобильных шин

고속 마찰 특성 평가시험기 개발을 통한 타이어 트레드 고무의 마찰에 관한 연구

Due to the development of compounding technology, there is a considerable increase in the number of high performance rubbers in the world. Accordingly, there are rapid growing requests about high performance tires such as UHP tire and Run-flat tire. However, it is extremely difficult to investigate the friction coefficient of tire tread rubbers. An alternative solution must be developed with the reliability of high-speed linear friction test machines. The use of friction test machines can be expected to improve rubber friction researches. In this paper, we propose a new kind of high-speed linear friction test machine. We have designed and manufactured various mechanisms for friction tests. The final goals are to design and manufacture friction test machines that can investigate friction coefficients efficiently and rapidly. The performance of the proposed high-speed linear friction test machine is evaluated experimentally; however additional study should be necessary for safer and more reliable experimentation.

Effect of Different Grades of Sulphur on the Properties of Tread Rubber Mixes for Radial Car Tyres

Effect of Different Grades of Sulphur on the Properties of Tread Rubber Mixes for Radial Car Tyres

The Influence of Tread Material Oil Aging on Tire Performance

In this article, tire tread rubber is analyzed. An experiment is designed to investigate the oil resistance property of the material. The micro-morphology is studied by using SEM. The hardness, size, permanent deformation and modulus are tested on the aged specimens. The DMA is used to investigate the change of dynamic mechanical parameters. At last, rough analysis for these changes’ influence in tire performance is done correspondingly. The results show that there are very great influence on tire performance when tread rubber aged by oil. Few studies in this aspect, the result is very precious and has a high value of practical application.

Investigating the Effect of Vulcanization in Tread Rubber Applications

Retreading has many potential applications in tyre manufacturing industry. There is a critical need for optimization of vulcanization processes used in tread manufacturing. Not much work hitherto has been reported for optimization of efficient sulphur vulcanization process of the tread manufacturing. The present experimentation work highlights approach to macro-model strength, elongation and hardness during vulcanization of rubber. Relationship between strength, elongation, hardness and other parameter has been deduced by using Taguchi L9 orthogonal array (OA). Results indicate that the hardness, elongation and strength of tread rubber while vulcanization depends significantly on the natural: synthetic rubber ratio (NR: SR), curing time and curing temperature of the rubber.

Spin Contrast Variation Study of Fuel-efficient Tire Rubber

The scattering length of a proton against a polarized neutron depends strongly on the polarization of proton spins (PH). This dependence can be utilized for contrast variation in small angle neutron scattering (SANS). We applied this spin contrast variation technique to a silica-filled SBR rubber specimen, which is widely used for tread rubber of fuel-efficient tires. For realizing high PH, we used dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) technique, in which large polarization of electron spin at low temperature and high magnetic field is transferred to proton spin by microwave irradiation with a tuned frequency. As this electron spin source, we doped stable radical TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl piperidine 1-oxyl) into the rubber sample by use of a vapor sorption technique. For the TEMPO-doped rubber sample, SANS measurements were conducted at PH = −20%, 0%, and +13%, with almost fully polarized neutron beam %) with its wavelength of 6.5±0.6 Å. The SANS profile clearly changed as a function of PH, which can be explained by the PH dependence of the neutron scattering length densities of the main three components (SBR, silica and zinc oxide). By a linear transformation of the profiles obtained at the three different PH values, we successfully determined the partial scattering function of silica, which reflects the aggregation of silica particles.

Observation of Water Behavior in the Contact Area between Porous Rubber and a Mating Surface during Sliding

ABSTRACT Porous rubber is often used as the tread rubber of studless tires because of its higher coefficient of friction on icy surfaces, as the real contact area is larger because of its lower elastic modulus. It is said that the real contact area increases owing to the water absorption into the pores. The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of pores on the surface of porous rubber during sliding under wet conditions. In this experiment, porous rubber was rubbed with a dove prism under wet conditions, so as to measure the coefficient of friction in concurrence with observing the friction surface. The total internal reflection method was adopted to distinguish the real contact area from the wet contact area. The real contact area was observed as a black area in captured image. Particle-tracking velocimetry was also conducted to visualize the water flow in the vicinity of pores during the sliding. The results of this study show that the absorption of water into the pores was not observed. The pore contained an air bubble during the sliding. The water flow detouring around the air bubble in the pore was also observed. In regard to contact, the front edge of the pore was not in contact with the mating dove prism. On the other hand, the rear edge of the pore was clearly seen as a black arc even if the pore left the dove prism. Thus, the rear edge of the pore contacting with the dove prism most likely wipes the water, so that the coefficient of friction of rubber with the pore was higher than that without the pore.

Stabilized numerical solution for transient dynamic contact of inelastic solids on rough surfaces

A simulation technique to deal with transient dynamic contact of tire rubber compounds on rough road surfaces is presented. The segment-to-surface approach is used for modeling the contact between tire tread rubber and road track. While the rubber components are deformable and described by a sophisticated viscoelastic damage constitutive model, the road surface is assumed to be rigid and characterized by an analytical function. A spectral approach based on an inverse computation of the 2D-Fast Fourier transform has been suggested for the reconstruction of rough surface profiles. The Newmark time-stepping method is used for the integration of transient dynamic equations. With the so-called contact-stabilized Newmark method the spurious oscillation at contact boundary has been removed. The detailed investigation on the dynamic contact of inelastic rubber block with rough road surfaces has been made. The robustness of the contact-stabilized Newmark method within a finite deformation framework is underlined by numerical studies, in which it is compared with several dissipation-based stabilization techniques selected from literature.

Investigation of rubber friction on snow for tyres

Frictional behaviour of tyres on snow is important for vehicles. We made friction tests of rubber tread blocks, of different geometries and rubber formulations, on compacted artificial snow in a cold room using a linear tribometer. These tests show excellent agreement with outdoor vehicle tests. The friction coefficient (μ) for rubber decreases with increasing velocity because of a water layer formed by frictional heating. As glass transition temperature Tg of the rubber decreases μ increases, which correlates with the increased compliance of the rubber. At higher velocities siped tread-blocks show higher friction than blocks without sipes because of ploughing.

A potentially energy efficient, resilient, thin steel wheel, for use on heavy road vehicles

The radial cross section of a thin spring steel, seamless round band is formed to a smaller radius. The forming changes the round band into an oval band with two natural, radial curved elbows. Any segment of a uniformly formed band moves with ease to any location along the oval geometry. The thin spring steel band, with a rubber tread, is mounted on two axles with four band support rims. The assembly is called ‘band wheel’. Band wheel has inherent spring suspension, a large rolling radius, a low rolling resistance and a low, adjustable ground pressure.

S114023 パターン摩耗するスチレンブタジェンゴムのき裂進展に及ぼすシリカ充てんの影響

In recent years, silica filled styrene butadiene rubber have been used in tread rubber of low rolling resistance tires for automobile. The purpose of this study is to clarify the wear property of silica filled rubber. The experiment was carried out using pin-on-disk tribometer, six types of styrene butadiene rubber blended with butadiene rubber with different contents of silica and carbon black filler were used as rubber specimens and the specimen was rubbed against metal gauze in silicone oil. As a result, it was founded that the more specimen contains silica filler, the more smaller specific wear rate K and coefficient of friction u. The worn surface of specimen was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), and all specimens have abrasion pattern. Fatigue test was also conducted and surface area in the vicinity of a crack was observed by an atomic force microscope.

S115011 タイヤ用ゴム試料の低すぺり率における摩耗特性

The low fuel consumption, long life, and low noise are required in the automobile tire. In order to evaluate these performances, it is necessary to understand the friction and wear properties of tire tread rubber. The experiments in laboratories often show differences to the results in real driving. It seems that the inconsistency is led by the differences of severities between the laboratory test and real driving. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the wear properties of rolling sliding friction of the rubber at low slip ratio. Experiment is carried out using a rolling drum into contact with a rolling rubber specimen. Abrasive papers were placed on the drum surface in order to assume the surface roughness of the actual road. It is clearly seen that the tangential force coefficient and linear rate of wear depends heavily on the slip ratio and surface roughness. The protrusion wear marks formed on the rubber surface moved faster as the slip ratio increased.

Sustainable tyre remanufacturing: an agent-based simulation modelling approach

This paper addresses sustainable benefits of remanufacturing tyres. An agent-based simulation approach is used to tackle this research problem by identifying different agents such as tyre, collector, recycler and remanufacturer. Details related to every agent are provided to show the decisions taken by these agents and the impact that may have on tyres' remanufacturing industry. Relying on input data from published reports and papers by academics and professional organisations, experiments are conducted on various scenarios to show the benefits of increasing the retread percentage of passenger car tyres. The results show that retreaded tyre can capture almost 25% of replacement (sales) market, resulting in significant reduction in scrap tyres and raw material consumption. This percentage can further be increased by increasing the number of retreads per used tyre and the life of tread rubber. The output results help in finding the profit break‐even point at various levels of retread. The results also show other decision-making implications, particularly related to rejection rate and ways to reduce it.

Analysis of Tire Tread Rubber Particles in Particulate Matters

Analysis of Tire Tread Rubber Particles in Particulate Matters

Silica Obtained Via Pyrolysis of Waste ‘Green’ Tyres - A Filler for Tyre Tread Rubber Blends

A solid product SiO2D has been obtained as a result of subjecting the tread of ‘green’ tyres to pyrolysis-cum-water vapor. It has been found by IR-FTIR and EDXRF spectroscopy that the product contains 65% of SiO2, 30% of carbon, 3% of ZnO, and 2% of other components. The mechanical and dynamic properties, and SEM micrographs of the vulcanizates of model sSBR/BR-based blends having a different SiO2D filler content have been compared to those of vulcanizates filled with conventional SiO2 and carbon black at a 2 : 1 ratio. Composites comprising ZnO as well as such comprising zinc salts of long-chain fatty acids have been investigated. Differences have been established neither in the mechanical properties (Modulus 300, tensile strength, abrasion, etc.) nor in the dynamic properties (heat build-up, tan δ, etc.) of the vulcanizates filled with SiO2D and of those filled with conventional SiO2 and carbon black at a 2 : 1 ratio. The size of SiO2D particles has been found to be the same as that of conventional SiO2. Their distribution in the rubber matrix also does not differ.