September

Developing tire tread formulations for electric vehicles (EVs) presents a unique challenge. Instantaneous high torque and vehicle dynamics demand traction performance, while owner expectations for battery life and range highlight the need for very low rolling resistance compounds. In addition, vehicle weight and new environmental pressures increase the need for improved durability and abrasion resistance.

Use of treated silica as a filler in passenger, truck and bus tires is explored, including how using treated precipitated silica can overcome manufacturing limitations associated with conventional high dispersible silica/in situ silane technology.

The TRP Reworker is a resource saving technology for the economical processing of rework materials based on the two-roll plasticizer (TRP) with integrated Roll Ex gear pump. In an automatic process, unvulcanized rubber compounds are processed particularly gently and continuously in order to return this rework material to the production process. In tire production, compound waste is unavoidable due to the process.

Operations in the tire pyrolysis sector, as part of the tire recycling industry, are maturing to become not recycling operations, but serious producers of high grade raw materials in the rubber supply chain, on equal footing with virgin materials.

It is known that the oil used as a plasticizing agent in rubber compounds has historically been of petroleum origin. These oils include distillate aromatic extract (DAE), treated distillated aromatic extract (TDAE) and medium extracted solvate (MES). Since 2011, Goodyear has been investigating the utility of soybean oil (SBO) as an alternative to replace petroleum based oils. It was found that the unique structural (figure 1) and physical properties of SBO can be harnessed to provide improvements in compound processing and performance for tire applications. Since this discovery, Goodyear has developed multiple products that make use of SBO through extension in solution styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR) and as a raw material in tire compounds. The benefits of SBO were harnessed through these avenues to create the Assurance WeatherReady tire in 2017, which is the industry’s first passenger tire to achieve full replacement of petroleum based oil with SBO in the tread.

Traditional internal mixing techniques for natural rubber (NR) and silica leave room for improvement in achieving good polymer-filler interaction in TBR (truck and bus radial) tread compounds. Internal, solid phase mixing of NR polymer and precipitated silica is complicated by several factors.

The sidewall typically extends from the exterior of the bead area to the shoulder of the tire. This component in a tire has three functions;
Protect the side of the tire from damage due to curbs or other foreign objects.
Due to flexing as the tire passes through its loaded footprint, it must also demonstrate fatigue and aging resistance and protect the tire casing
Via lettering on the sidewall, provide structural information (plies, belts, load carrying capacity) and other regulatory information such as place and date of manufacture, and if needed, white strips (white sidewall), raised white letters, the tire brand or model and name of the manufacturer.