Dual-Layer Tire Tread Cap for Dry and Wet Traction
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-performance tires face a challenge in maintaining both dry and wet traction as the tread wears down, with existing dual-layered tread designs either compromising dry traction for enhanced wet traction or vice versa.
Innovation Solution
A tire tread with a dual-layered cap construction featuring a carbon black-rich outer tread cap layer for dry traction and a silica-rich inner tread cap layer for wet traction, where the inner layer becomes exposed as the outer layer wears, maintaining geometrically induced stiffness and enhancing wet traction without sacrificing dry traction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a dual-layered tread cap construction is implemented with different rubber compositions, then both dry and wet traction can be maintained, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tread cap is segmented into two distinct layers with different rubber compositions, allowing each layer to be optimized for specific traction conditions. This segmentation enables the tire to maintain both dry and wet traction performance by having dedicated material zones for each function.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
Tire with a tread (1) of a cap/base construction comprising a two-ply (dual layered) tread cap rubber layer comprising a combination of an outer tread cap layer (2A) and an inner tread cap layer (2B) together with an underlying tread base rubber layer (6) which underlies the dual layered cap layer. The tread cap layer is of a lug and groove configuration with at least a portion of the grooves extending through the outer tread cap layer (2A) into the inner tread cap layer (2B) without extending to the tread base rubber layer (6). The outer tread cap rubber layer (2A) comprises a carbon black-rich rubber composition to promote dry traction for the tread running surface. The inner tread cap layer (2B) comprises a softer silica-rich rubber composition to promote wet traction for tread running surface as the outer tread cap layer wears away to expose the softer inner tread cap layer.