ON THE FRICTION OF INFLATED RUBBER TIRES ON ICE

Abstract

The friction on ice of some small inflated rubber tires was measured on a turntable in a cold room. When rolling-friction force was plotted against load, the relation was either linear or slightly curved away from the load axis; such curvature implies that Thirion's Law does not hold for rolling friction. On the other hand when sliding-friction force was plotted against load the curvature was toward the load axis as would be expected if Thirion's Law applied. The coefficient of friction can go as low as 0.01 or even lower for a hard-pumped tire when the temperature is near 0 °C, but at −1 °C. rolling friction on dry ice is quite appreciable. The results refer only to measurements at very slow speed.