Patents for December 2024

Patent News as compiled by the editors for Rubber World for December 2024.

Hydrogenated nitrile rubber with reduced catalyst impurity
U.S. patent: 11,976,181
Issued: May 7, 2024
Inventors: Soobum Choi, Lawrence J. Justice and Mahesh Datla
Assigned: Zeon Chemicals
Key statement: The residual hydrogenation catalyst from the hydrogenated nitrile rubber solution is recovered by using two steps such as (1) the catalyst extraction step with an ammonium salt and water (optionally including an oxidation step) to extract catalyst from the HNBR polymer chain to the solvent and then (2) the separation/column recovery step with the column packed with functional ion exchange resins for the separation of ammonia-catalyst complex from hydrogenated nitrile rubber solution and the column recovery for the high catalyst recovery with functional groups of resins. The ammonium salt for the catalyst extraction step is selected from ammonium chloride, ammonium bromide, ammonium iodide and ammonium acetate. The functional groups in the functional ion exchange resins for packing the column is selected from thiourea, thiouronium, thiol, amine, diamine, triamine, TMT, dithiocarbamate and carbodithioate.

Indicating errors in a tire monitoring system
U.S. patent: 11,951,781
Issued: April 9, 2024
Inventor: Andrew Bill
Assigned: Airbus Operations
Key statement: A tire monitoring device and method in which an error can be detected and indicated. The tire monitoring device includes an indicator and a wireless communication interface. The method of operating the tire monitoring device includes: receiving an instruction to measure a tire pressure via the wireless communication interface; measuring a tire pressure; determining an error status of the tire pressure monitoring device; and responsive to a determination that the error status is not indicative of an error, activating the indicator to provide an indication based on the tire pressure.

Rubber composition
U.S. patent: 11,976,185
Issued: May 7, 2024
Inventor: Atsushi Koga
Assigned: Nok
Key statement: A rubber composition comprising 0.1 to 2.5 parts by weight of a lubricant having a flow temperature of 50 to 100°C based on 100 parts by weight of an ethylene/butene/5-ethylidene-2-norbornene terpolymer. This rubber composition is compounded with a specific lubricant, and has the following effects: That is, the rubber composition prevents difficulties caused by sticking between unvulcanized rubber compound, improves productivity in the rubber compound preparation process and the vulcanization molding process of crosslinked molded products, such as seal members and does not impair the low temperature properties of the crosslinked molded products. This rubber composition is effectively used as a crosslinking molding material for seal parts, for which a high pressure gas sealing function is particularly required in a low temperature environment, e.g., −39°C or lower.

Block copolymer, method for producing same, rubber composition using said block copolymer and tire
U.S. patent: 11,976,190
Issued: May 7, 2024
Inventor: Daisuke Koda
Assigned: Kuraray
Key statement: The present invention relates to a block copolymer that contains a polymer block (A) containing a farnesene-derived monomer unit (a1) and a random copolymer block (B) containing a C12 or lower conjugated diene-derived monomer unit (b1) and an aromatic vinyl compound-derived monomer unit (b2), the block copolymer having a ratio by mass of the polymer block (A) to the random copolymer block (B) (A/B) of 30/70 to 0.5/99.5, a content of the aromatic vinyl compound-derived monomer unit (b2) in the random copolymer block (B) of 1% to 50% by mass, and a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of 100,000 to 5,000,000.

Rubber composition with dual fillers reinforcement
U.S. patent: 11,981,816
Issued: May 14, 2024
Inventors: Benoit Duez, Pascal Patrick Steiner, Philippe Schmit, Georges Marcel Victor Thielen, Ahilan Manisekaran and Jean-Sébastien Thomann
Assigned: Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology
Key statement: The present disclosure relates to a rubber composition comprising at least rubber and reinforcement materials, the reinforcement materials comprising silica particles and Kraft lignin nanoparticles, wherein the phr ratio between the silica particles and Kraft lignin nanoparticles is ranging between 3 and 20; wherein the Kraft lignin nanoparticles have an average diameter size ranging between 10 and 100 nm as determined by scanning electron microscopy; and wherein the Kraft lignin nanoparticles have a glass transition temperature of at least 150°C as determined by differential scanning calorimetry.

All-steel tire with 100% definite elongations of upper and lower treads being interrelated to each other
U.S. patent: 11,981,161
Issued: May 14, 2024
Inventors: Tenglong She, Gege Huang, Daiqiang Li and Kan Heng
Assigned: Guizhou Tire
Key statement: The present disclosure provides an all-steel tire with 100% definite elongations of an upper tread and a lower tread being interrelated to each other. The all-steel tire of the present disclosure includes a lower tread rubber layer (B) and an upper tread rubber layer (A). Through repeated multiple experiments of the applicant, when a ratio of stresses at 100% definite elongation of the upper tread rubber layer (A) to the lower tread rubber layer (B) is (0.7-0.8):1 and the 100% stress at definite elongation of the lower tread rubber layer (B) is 3.2-5.5 MPa, it can be ensured that after any tread of the tire is subjected to performance adjustment, the performance balance of the whole tire crown is continuously maintained, so that no new problem is generated after the tread performance of the all-steel radial tire is improved.

Sponge-forming silicone rubber composition and silicone rubber sponge
U.S. patent: 11,981,786
Issued: May 14, 2024
Inventor: Masakazu Irie
Assigned: Dow Toray
Key statement: A sponge-forming silicone rubber composition is disclosed. The sponge-forming silicone rubber composition comprises: (A) an organopolysiloxane having at least two alkenyl groups per molecule; (B) an organopolysiloxane having at least two silicon atom-bonded hydrogen atoms per molecule; (C) water; (D) a thickener; (E) a surfactant; (F) a silane compound having silicon atom-bonded alkoxy groups, or a partially hydrolyzed condensate thereof; and (G) a hydrosilylation reaction catalyst. The sponge-forming silicone rubber composition forms a silicone rubber sponge. In general, the silicone rubber sponge has excellent water absorption and water retentivity.

Rubber composition and a tire comprising a rubber composition
U.S. patent: 11,987,705
Issued: May 14, 2024
Inventors: Michael Hans, Gary Terence Barrett, Steve Ludwig, Christian Jean-Marie Kaes, Anna Katharina Bier and Björn Springer
Assigned: Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Key statement: A rubber composition comprising 50 phr to 100 phr of a styrene butadiene rubber; 0 phr to 50 phr of at least one diene based rubber; 95 phr to 200 phr of filler comprising i) 50 phr to 100 phr of silica, ii) 40 phr to 70 phr of carbon black and iii) 5 phr to 30 phr of an inorganic metal hydroxide; 40 phr to 80 phr of plasticizer comprising a hydrocarbon resin having a softening point within a range of 80°C and 130°C.

Fatty acid-modified vegetable oils in rubber compositions and tires
U.S. patent: 11,987,690
Issued: May 21, 2024
Inventors: Kelsey Elizabeth Cantwell and Joseph John Kulig
Assigned: Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Key statement: The present invention is directed to the use of modified vegetable oils in rubber compositions and in tires.

Tire pressure monitoring system
U.S. patent: 11,987,081
Issued: May 21, 2024
Inventors: Kanwar Bharat Singh and Lautaro Dolberg
Assigned: Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Key statement: A tire pressure monitoring system monitors the pressure in at least one tire supporting a vehicle. The system includes at least one sensor mounted on the tire for measuring a pressure and a temperature of the tire. Transmission means transmit the measured pressure data and temperature data to a processor and a tire pressure model is executed on the processor. The tire pressure model includes a driving event extractor to extract cold pressure data from the measured pressure data and a temperature compensator to generate a compensated cold tire pressure from the cold pressure data. A noise filter filters sensor noise and generates a filtered cold tire pressure from the compensated cold tire pressure. A detection module receives the filtered cold tire pressure and determines an air pressure leak rate of the tire and a leak notification corresponding to the air pressure leak rate is generated.

Rubber composition and tire
U.S. patent: 11,987,703
Issued: May 21, 2024
Inventor: Kensuke Washizu
Assigned: Sumitomo Rubber
Key statement: The present invention aims to provide rubber compositions and tires which provide improved overall performance in