Hidden Sipe Tire Tread via Segmented Curing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tire manufacturing methods struggle to create sipes of minimal thickness and hidden sipes that can only appear after a period of tread wear, limiting the shape, configuration, and rigidity control of tire treads, which affects traction and rolling resistance.
Innovation Solution
A method involving sequential layers of uncured tire rubber, where incisions are made and partially cured to create sipes that are hidden and become visible with tread wear, allowing for complex geometries and varying depths, and densities, while maintaining control over tread rigidity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sipes are added to improve traction, then wet and snow grip is improved, but rolling resistance increases due to reduced tread rigidity
Solution Approach 1:
The tread is segmented into multiple layers with sipes created in intermediate layers rather than the outermost layer. This segmentation allows the tread surface to maintain rigidity while internal sipes provide traction benefits as they emerge during wear
Solution Approach 2:
Sipes are pre-formed in intermediate tread layers during manufacturing, but remain hidden until wear exposes them. This preliminary action prepares the traction features in advance while keeping them concealed to maintain initial tread rigidity
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional molding techniques are used to create sipes, then sipes can be formed during curing, but sipes of minimal thickness and hidden sipes cannot be created
Solution Approach 1:
The manufacturing process is segmented into separate steps: forming uncured layers with incisions, partially curing to stabilize structure, then completing the cure. This allows precise control of sipe geometry in intermediate layers without the limitations of conventional single-step molding
Solution Approach 2:
Incisions are made in uncured rubber layers before final curing, allowing precise geometric control. The uncured material is more pliable for creating exact sipe shapes, and the incisions are preserved through the curing process
3Reliability
If sipes are made visible from the beginning, then traction is improved, but tread rigidity is reduced and rolling resistance increases
Solution Approach 1:
Sipes are prepared in advance in intermediate layers during manufacturing but remain hidden until wear exposes them. This allows the tread to maintain full rigidity initially while having traction features ready to emerge as the tire wears
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the tread have different properties: the outermost layer maintains full rigidity and strength, while intermediate layers contain hidden sipes that provide local traction benefits when exposed through wear
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the creation of tires with improved traction and reduced rolling resistance by allowing sipes to emerge only after wear, enhancing performance without initial visibility, thus optimizing tread wear and energy efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
curing a portion of the layer of uncured tire rubber adjacent to the incision and without curing all of the layer of uncured tire rubber
Implementation Method 2
The materials are sequentially applied to a forming drum that initially provides a flat surface but ultimately moves the beads together to form the toroidal tire shape. The resulting green tire is then placed into a curing press where heat and pressure are used to cure the tire rubber components as well as bond the rubber components together.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
AI summary
A tire with certain tread features and a method for manufacturing the tread for such a tire are provided. More particularly, a tire and method for manufacturing a tire having a tread portion with sipes that can be of minimal thickness and varying geometries, densities, and profiles may be provided. The sipes can also be hidden until after a period of tread wear has occurred.