Adhesion and heat build-up of rubber for energy-saved tyre

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of crosslinking systems (conventional and efficient systems) on the contact mechanics and heat build-up of natural rubber (NR) tyre mimicking samples. The JKR (Johnson, Kendall and Roberts) experiment has been established to measure the contact mechanics in NR samples at different vulcanization systems. Work of adhesion obtained from JKR model is in good agreement with that calculated from contact angle measurement. From the contact mechanics point of view, the adsorption of the rubber to the glass slide surface plays a major role in the strain energy release rate. Higher rubber free chain samples (unvulcanized rubber) represent higher adhesion hysteresis and higher heat build-up compared to vulcanized rubbers whichever was the vulcanization system. Finally, rubber sample obtained using efficient vulcanization has the lowest adhesion hysteresis and heat build-up. These results suggest that the rubber with efficient vulcanization is preferable for the application of energy-saving tyres.