Tread Rubber and Groove Structure for Wet Grip and Chip Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tires face challenges in achieving a balance between wet grip performance and chipping resistance, particularly in extreme weather conditions, due to the design of lateral grooves that trap stones and cause heat generation leading to chip cutting and block chipping.
Innovation Solution
A tire design with a tread comprising a rubber composition containing isoprene-based rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber, silica filler, and a silane coupling agent, with specific brittleness temperature and groove depth ratios, enhances wet grip performance and chipping resistance by improving energy dissipation and dispersibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a lateral groove with deep groove depth is used to improve drainage performance, then wet grip performance is improved, but stone trapping occurs and heat generation increases leading to reduced chipping resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by precisely controlling the groove depth ratio (B) to be 0.65 or more but less than 0.85, and by controlling the brittleness temperature (A) to be -40°C or lower. The combination of these parameters (A/B ratio) creates optimal conditions where the groove depth provides sufficient drainage for wet grip while preventing excessive stone trapping and heat generation that would cause chipping.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite rubber composition containing isoprene-based rubber and styrene-butadiene rubber in specific proportions (5-50 parts isoprene-based rubber and 95-50 parts SBR per 100 parts total rubber). This composite material structure provides both the flexibility needed for low brittleness temperature and the durability required for chipping resistance, while the silica filler with silane coupling agent enhances both wet grip and structural integrity.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If natural rubber and styrene-butadiene rubber with high rigidity are mixed to improve chipping resistance at normal temperature, then chipping resistance is improved, but brittleness temperature increases causing chipping at low temperature
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by precisely controlling the rubber composition ratios and adding silica filler with specific surface area (150-300 m²/g) at 30-90 parts per 100 parts rubber. This composition adjustment lowers the brittleness temperature to -40°C or below while maintaining chipping resistance through the reinforced composite structure provided by the silica-silane coupling agent system.
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
The tire achieves an excellent balance of wet grip performance and chipping resistance across a wide temperature range, with improved drainage and reduced heat generation, ensuring durability and safety on various road surfaces.
Implementation Method 1
compounding a predetermined rubber component, a predetermined filler, and a predetermined silane coupling agent with a rubber layer of a tread surface
Implementation Method 2
it becomes hard for impact and a crack to propagate and it becomes hard for chip cutting and block chipping to occur
Data Source
AI summary
It is an object to provide a tire having an excellent balance of wet grip performance and chipping resistance. The tire is a tire comprising a tread, wherein the tread has a lateral groove neither of both ends of which opens into circumferential grooves, wherein a predetermined rubber component, a predetermined filler, and a silane coupling agent are compounded in a rubber layer of a tread surface, wherein a brittleness temperature of the rubber component and a ratio of a groove depth at the deepest part of the groove bottom of the lateral groove neither of both ends of which opens into the circumferential grooves to a thickness of the entire tread are made to lie in predetermined ranges.