Dual-Composition Tire Tread for Snow and Wet Grip Balance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current snow tires face challenges in maintaining grip performance on snowy surfaces without compromising grip on wet surfaces, as existing rubber compositions fail to optimize the balance between snow traction and wet road handling.
Innovation Solution
A tire tread design featuring two radially superposed portions with distinct rubber compositions: a radially external portion with a lower content of liquid diene polymer and a radially internal portion with a higher content, both reinforced with inorganic fillers and plasticizing agents, to enhance grip on snow without deteriorating wet road performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a single rubber composition is used for the entire tread, then manufacturing is simple, but performance cannot be optimized for both snow and wet conditions simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The tread is segmented into distinct zones (shoulder portions and central portions) that can be manufactured separately and then assembled. This maintains relative manufacturing simplicity while enabling multi-condition optimization through the use of different rubber compositions in different zones.
Data Source
AI summary
A tire has a tread comprising at least two radially superposed portions which comprise radially external/internal portions. The external portion is made of a first rubber composition which is based on at least an elastomer matrix, a reinforcing filler comprising between 80 and 200 phr of a reinforcing inorganic filler, and a plasticizing agent comprising 0 to less than 20 phr of a liquid diene polymer having a glass transition temperature of less than -70℃. The internal portion is made of a second rubber composition which is based on an elastomer matrix, a reinforcing filler comprising 20 to 200 phr of a reinforcing inorganic filler, and a plasticizing agent comprising between 5 and 100 phr of a liquid diene polymer having a glass transition temperature of less than -70℃. The amount in phr of the liquid diene polymer in the first rubber composition is lower than that in the second rubber composition.