Patents for May

Patent as compiled by the editors of Rubber World for the May issue

Rubber composition for tire tread and pneumatic tire
U.S. patent: 11,261,313
Issued: March 1, 2022
Inventor: Keisuke Iwakuni
Assigned: Toyo Tire
Key statement: A rubber composition for a tire tread according to an embodiment includes a
rubber component containing a natural rubber, a styrene-butadiene rubber and a polybutadiene
rubber; oil-absorbent polymer particles having a glass transition temperature of -70 to -20°C,
formed from a polymer whose molecular weight distribution is less than 3.0 and having an oil
absorption of 100 to 1,500 ml/100 g; an oil; and silica. The content of the oil-absorbent polymer
particles is 0.5 to 25 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the rubber component. As a result,
snow performance and wet performance can be improved.

Reinforced rubber spoke for a tire
U.S. patent: 11,260,695
Issued: March 1, 2022
Inventors: Steven M. Cron, Timothy Brett Rhyne and Ryan Michael Gaylo
Assigned: Michelin
Key statement: A spoke (100) for a wheel (10) attaching an outer tread (200) to a hub (20), the spoke having a first (142) and second (144) spoke elements joined by a joint body (130) comprised of an elastomer connecting the first spoke element to a second spoke element.

Reducing crumb rubber modified bitumen odors
U.S. patent: 11,274,208
Issued: March 15, 2022
Inventors: Jacques Colange, Liting Xu and Hui Yan
Assigned: Shell Oil
Key statement: A method for reducing odors including the steps of admixing active agents and a
diluting agent to liquid crumb rubber modified bitumen, wherein the active agents comprise 20 to
60 wt.% of an aldehyde selected from alpha-hexyl cinnamaldehyde, 2-(4-tert.-butylbenzyl)
propionaldehyde, 2-benzylidenheptanal, or mixtures thereof and 10 to 40 wt.% of one or more
alcohols having a boiling point of at least 150° C, calculated on the total weight of active agents. A
crumb rubber modified bitumen composition is obtained by the method above. The use of a crumb
rubber modified bitumen composition is obtained by the method above in road surfacing and road
base materials, in insulating layers for buildings, in roofing materials and/ or in sealing sheeting.
Natural rubber skim block in asphalt compositions and non-asphalt solvent-based coatings
U.S. patent: 11,261,331
Issued: March 1, 2022
Inventors: Rodney G. Armstrong, III, Christopher D. Shepherd and Tom Marsh
Assigned: Corrie MacColl
Key statement: A skim block composition includes a carrier mixed with a skim block addition, the
skim block addition including from 0 to less than 100 wt.% synthetic polymer and from greater than
0 to 100% skim block. This provides productive use for the typical waste product skim block, which
is the neutralized and coagulated product of skim latex formed during the production of natural
rubber latex concentrate by centrifugation.

Rubber composition for tires and pneumatic tire
U.S. patent: 11,267,285
Issued: March 8, 2022
Inventors: Mikako Yoshioka, Yuka Yokoyama, Haruko Sawaki and Takahiro Mabuchi
Assigned: Sumitomo Rubber
Key statement: The present invention provides a rubber composition for treads, containing: a
rubber component including an isoprene-based rubber and polybutadiene rubber; silica; carbon
black; a terpene- based resin; and a water-soluble fine particle and/or a foaming agent, the terpene-based resin having a softening point of 70-150°C, an α-pinene unit content of 65-100% by mass and a β-pinene unit content of 0-35% by mass, the rubber component including, based on 100% by mass thereof, 20-80% by mass of the isoprene-based rubber and 20-80% by mass of the polybutadiene rubber, with a combined amount of the isoprene-based rubber and the polybutadiene rubber of 90% by mass or more, the rubber composition containing, per 100 parts by mass of the rubber component, 20-200 parts by mass of the silica, 0.1-50 parts by mass of the carbon black, and 0.1-50 parts by mass of the terpene-based resin.

Rubber composition and method for making thereof
U.S. patent: 11,279,817
Issued: March 22, 2022
Inventors: Neil Riddle, Noriko Yagi and Jeremie G. Pichereau
Assigned: Kraton Polymers
Key statement: A rubber composition is disclosed. The composition comprises a blend based on 100 parts by weight (phr) of diene elastomers: 5 to 95 phr of a first diene elastomer, 5 to 50 phr of a hydrogenated styrenic block copolymer (HSBC), 50 to 200 phr of a filler, up to 25 phr of a plasticizer. The HSBC has a melt flow ratio of 1.0 to 50.0 measured according to ASTM D-1238 at 230°C and 2.16 kg load, a durometer A hardness of 40 to 80 measured according to ASTM D-2240, a DMA peak tan delta temperature of 0°C to 40°C at 1 Hz measured according to ASTM D-4065 and an orderdisorder transition temperature of 200°C to 300°C The composition does not comprise a resin, a plasticizer, or comprises a resin or a plasticizer in an amount of less than 20 phr.

Rubber composition, heterocycle-modified glycerin fatty acid ester and production method for
heterocycle-modified glycerin fatty acid ester
U.S. patent: 11,279,818
Issued: March 22, 2022
Inventors: Hirokazu Kageyama and Kazushi Kimura
Assigned: Yokohama Rubber
Key statement: An object of the present invention is to provide a rubber composition having excellent processability, a heterocycle-modified glycerin fatty acid ester and a production method for the heterocycle-modified glycerin fatty acid ester. The present invention includes: a rubber composition containing a rubber, silica and a heterocycle-modified glycerin fatty acid ester, in which an epoxy group is modified with a heterocyclic compound having a heterocycle having at least one H–N< bond, where the heterocycle is at least one selected from the group consisting of a piperazine ring, a morpholine ring and a thiomorpholine ring and the heterocycle may have a substituent; the heterocycle-modified glycerin fatty acid ester; and a production method therefor.

Tire having a composition comprising an ethylene-rich elastomer, a peroxide and a polyfunctional
acrylate derivative
U.S. patent: 11,286,369
Issued: March 29, 2022
Inventors: Benjamin Gornard, Didier Vasseur and Guillaume Pibre
Assigned: Michelin
Key statement: A tire with improved wear resistance, rolling resistance and cohesion, comprises a rubber composition based on at least one elastomeric matrix comprising predominantly a random copolymer comprising ethylene units and conjugated diene units, the mole fraction of ethylene units in the copolymer being within a range extending from 50% to 95%; a peroxide; and a specific polyfunctional acrylate; the contents of polyfunctional acrylate and of peroxide being such that the ratio of the peroxide content to the polyfunctional acrylate content is greater than or equal to 0.08; said composition comprising from 5 to less than 65 phr of reinforcing filler; the ratio of the filler content to the polyfunctional acrylate content being greater than or equal to 1.25.

Conjugated diene polymer, rubber composition, crosslinked rubber, rubber product and tire
U.S. patent: 11,286,375
Issued: March 29, 2022
Inventors: Kyohei Kotani and Madoka Kimura
Assigned: Bridgestone
Key statement: The present invention provides a conjugated diene polymer containing a low vinyl portion having a vinyl content of 2 to 20% by mol and a high vinyl portion having a vinyl content of 50% by mol or more and a method for producing the same; a rubber composition containing a rubber component containing the conjugated diene polymer, at least one filler selected from the group consisting of carbon black and silica, a silane coupling agent and a crosslinking agent; crosslinked rubber prepared by crosslinking the rubber composition; and a rubber product and a tire containing the crosslinked rubber. The tire can achieve both the abrasion resistance and the low fuel consumption capability, the conjugated diene polymer, the rubber composition and the crosslinked rubber are preferred for producing the tire and the rubber product is excellent in abrasion resistance and low heat generation property.

Modified conjugated diene-based polymer, polymer composition and rubber composition
U.S. patent: 11,292,862
Issued: April 5, 2022
Inventors: Koichi Hasebe, Ryo Suzuki and Hiromi Nakafutami
Assigned: Asahi Kasei Kabushiki Kaisha
Key statement: A modified conjugated diene-based polymer having a weight average molecular eight of 20 104 or more and 300 104 or less and having a molecular eight distribution weight of 20 x 104 or more and 300 x 104 or less and having a molecular weight distribution Mw/Mn of 1.6 or more and 4.0 or less, wherein a modification ratio with respect to a total amount of the conjugated diene-based polymer is 50% by mass or more, a modification ratio of a component having a molecular weight which is 1/2 of a molecular weight at a peak top, or a peak top of the minimum molecular weight when a plurality of the peak tops of molecular weights is present, in a gel permeation chromatography curve is 1/2 or more of the modification ratio with respect to the total amount of the conjugated diene-based polymer and a content of nitrogen contained in the modified conjugated diene-based polymer is 3 mass ppm or more and 70 mass ppm or less.