ArticlesPatents

Patents for April

Patents from United States Patent Office

Tire with tread of carbon black reinforced rubber composition containing specialized styrene/butadiene elastomer
U.S. patent: 10,961,373
Issued: March 30, 2021
Inventor: Lauren Elizabeth Brace
Assigned: Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Key statement: The invention relates to a tire having a tread of carbon black reinforced rubber composition containing a specialized styrene/butadiene elastomer with molecular weight profile containing a limited low molecular weight content and triglyceride vegetable oil.

Methods of making an elastomer composite reinforced with silica and products containing same
U.S. patent: 10,961,359
Issued: March 30, 2021
Inventors: Jincheng Xiong, Martin C. Green, William R. Williams, Dmitry Fomitchev, Gerald D. Adler, Duane G. McDonald and Ron Grosz
Assigned: Cabot
Key statement: Methods to make a silica elastomer composite with a destabilized dispersion of silica are described, along with silica elastomer composites made from the methods. The advantages achieved with the methods are further described.

Rubber composition comprising a monohydroxysilane polysulfide coupling agent
U.S. patent: 10,961,371
Issued: March 30, 2021
Inventors: Nicolas Seeboth, Anne- Frederique Salit, Sylvain Mayer, Jose Manuel Antelo Miguez, Pablo Barreiro and Benigno A. Janeiro
Assigned: Michelin
Key statement: An elastomeric composition is based on at least a diene elastomer, an inorganic filler as reinforcing filler and a monohydroxysilane polysulfide as coupling agent of formula (I): (HO) (R1)2Si–CH2–(R2)CH– Z–Sx–Z–HC(R2)—CH2–Si(R1)2(OH) (I), in which: each R1 represents a monovalent hydrocarbon group having from 1 to 18 carbon atoms and can be the same or different from one another; each R2 represents a monovalent hydrocarbon group having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms and can be the same or different from one another; each Z represents a divalent hydrocarbon bonding group comprising from 1 to 16 carbon atoms can be the same or different from one another; and x is an integral or fractional number greater than or equal to 2.

Method for producing hydrogenated conjugated diene-based polymer, hydrogenated conjugated dienebased polymer, polymer composition, crosslinked polymer and tire
U.S. patent: 10,961,327
Issued: March 30, 2021
Inventors: Takumi Adachi, Hirofumi Senga, Fumihiro Toyokawa, Naoya Nosaka, Takaomi Matsumoto and Ryoji Tanaka
Assigned: JSR
Key statement: Provided is a rubber material that is well-balanced in terms of tensile strength, low hysteresis loss property, wet grip property and abrasion resistance. A hydrogenated conjugated diene-based polymer which is a hydrogenation product of a conjugated diene-based polymer including butadiene- derived structural units is produced by a method comprising a step of preparing a conjugated diene-based polymer having, at a side chain moiety thereof, a functional group capable of interacting with silica; and a step of hydrogenating the conjugated diene based polymer so as to achieve a hydrogenation rate of 80 to 99% of butadiene-derived structural units included in the conjugated diene-based polymer.

Semi-pneumatic tire and semi-pneumatic tire manufacturing method
U.S. patent: 10,960,708
Issued: March 30, 2021
Inventors: Chul-Woo Kwark, Kee- Woon Kim, Chang-Jung Park, Gwi- Sung Shin and Soon-Wook Hwang
Assigned: Kumho Tire
Key statement: A semi-pneumatic tire includes a tread portion configured to make contact with a road surface, a non-pneumatic portion coupled to an inner circumferential surface of the tread portion. The semi-pneumatic tire further includes a pneumatic portion coupled to an inner circumferential surface of the non-pneumatic portion and provided with a space into which an air is filled and bonding layers respectively interposed between the tread portion and the non-pneumatic portion and between the non-pneumatic portion and the pneumatic portion. The non-pneumatic portion includes a band portion including an inner band coupled to an outer circumferential surface of the pneumatic portion and an outer band spaced apart from the inner band and surrounding an outer circumferential surface of the inner band and spokes provided between the inner band and the outer band to connect the inner band and the outer band.

Use of specific aminosilyl monomers in the manufacture of rubber
U.S. patent: 10,954,330
Issued: March 23 2021
Issued: March 23, 2021
Inventors: Michael Rossle, Sven
Thiele and Dominique Thielemann
Assigned: Trinseo
Key statement: The invention relates to the use of specific aminosilyl monomers in the manufacture of elastomeric polymers, especially rubber. The invention specifically relates to a process for preparing an elastomeric polymer, involving the copolymerization of the aminosilyl monomers, the elastomeric polymer thus obtained or obtainable, non-vulcanized and vulcanized polymer compositions comprising the elastomeric polymer and articles comprising one or more components formed from the vulcanized polymer composition.

Tire for sand traction
U.S. patent: 10,953,697
Issued: March 23, 2021
Inventor: Timothy Michael Rooney
Assigned: Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Key statement: A tire for sand traction includes a ground-engaging tread that is disposed radially outwardly of a wheel. Structural elements extend radially between the wheel and the tread. The tread includes an inboard shoulder and an outboard shoulder. The tread is formed with a recess wall that extends laterally between the inboard shoulder and the outboard shoulder. The recess wall is disposed radially inwardly of the inboard shoulder and the outboard shoulder to form a central recess. The tire also includes a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, laterally-extending lugs. Each lug extends across the central recess from the inboard shoulder to the outboard shoulder.

Rubber composition with precipitated silica partially pre-hydrophobated with alkylsilane coupled to an elastomer in situ within the rubber composition and tire with component
U.S. patent: 10,947,369
Issued: March 16, 2021
Inventors: Bruce Raymond Hahn and George Jim Papakonstantopoulos
Assigned: Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Key statement: The invention relates to a rubber composition containing diene based elastomer(s) coupled with a silica coupler in situ in the rubber composition to a precipitated silica which is partially pre-hydrophobated with an alkylsilane, its preparation and to a tire containing a component comprised of such rubber composition.

Pneumatic tire
U.S. patent: 10,947,368
Inventors: Nihat Ali Isitman, Claude Charles Jacoby, Manuela Pompei, Luisa Fernanda Munoz Mejia, Carlo Kanz and Marc Weydert
Assigned: Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Key statement: The present invention is directed to a pneumatic tire having a tread comprising a vulcanizable rubber composition comprising, based on 100 parts by weight of elastomer (phr), (A) from about 20 to about 60 phr of a solution polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber having a glass transition temperature (Tg) ranging from -85°C to -50°C; (B) from about 45 to about 80 phr of a polybutadiene having a cis 1,4 content greater than 95 percent and a Tg ranging from -80 to -110°C; and (C) from 0 to 20 phr of a process oil; (D) from 55 to 80 phr of a resin selected from the group consisting of C5/C9 resins and DCPD/C9 resins, the resin having a Tg greater than 30°C; and (E) from 110 to 160 phr of silica.

Filler for tires, rubber composition for tires, tire, method for producing filler for tires and aggregation inhibitor
U.S. patent: 10,947,363
Issued: March 16, 2021
Inventors: Takeshi Ogi, Tatsuya Tsukamoto and Aki Nakatsu
Assigned: Harima Chemicals
Key statement: In a filler for tires containing silica particles and an aggregation inhibitor inhibiting the aggregation of the silica particles, the aggregation inhibitor contains at least one kind selected from the group consisting of phosphate and derivative thereof, amino alcohol, cationic surfactant, water-soluble aminosilane, nitrogencontaining heterocyclic compound, nonionic surfactant, tertiary amine compound, polyvinyl alcohol, nonzinc soap, saturated fatty acid ester and glycerine fatty acid ester.

Tire provided with a tread comprising a diene elastomer, a thermoplastic elastomer and a
thermoplastic resin having polyphenylene ether patterns
U.S. patent: 10,946,697
Issued: March 16, 2021
Inventor: Christophe Chouvel
Assigned: Michelin
Key statement: A tire comprises a tread, a crown with a crown reinforcement, two sidewalls, two beads, a carcass reinforcement anchored to the two beads and extending from one sidewall to the other, characterized in that the tread comprises a composition based on at least a diene elastomer,
at a content of between 35 and 99 phr (parts by weight per hundred parts of elastomer), a thermoplastic elastomer at a content of between 1 and 65 phr and a thermoplastic resin thermoplastic elastomer, at a content of between 1 and 65 phr, and a thermoplastic resin comprising optionally substituted polyphenylene ether units, said thermoplastic elastomer being a block copolymer comprising at least one elastomer block of optionally hydrogenated butadiene/styrene random copolymer type and at least one thermoplastic block of styrene type.

Composite and pneumatic tire
U.S. patent: 10,940,718
Issued: March 9, 2021
Inventors: Natsuki Maekawa, Koji
Fujisawa, Hiroshi Ito, Ryosuke Harada and Daiko Fujimori
Assigned: Sumitomo Rubber
Key statement: The present invention provides a composite that has good initial adhesion and good adhesion after high temperature and high humidity aging. Provided is a composite including: a topping rubber composition having a fatty acid content of 0.8% by mass or less; and an adherend plated with a copper-containing layer.