Aging of Tire Parts during Service. II. Aging of Belt-Skim Rubbers in Passenger Tires

Abstract

Abstract The belt-skim rubber of a passenger-car tire has changes in its tensile properties, M100 and λb, during service in the field. The changes are larger in higher temperature fields with an equivalent duration. It can be interpreted that the changes are caused simply by oxidative crosslinking similar to that which takes place on aging rubber sheets in an air oven at relatively low temperatures, below 100°C. The belt-skim compound showing better aging resistance in the laboratory also shows better aging resistance when used in a tire. Therefore, the aging characteristics of the rubber part in a tire can be satisfactorily predicted. The Arrhenius equations with the same activation energy can be used for the aging of a rubber in the laboratory and in the tires by introducing a factor to the tire equation. The factor is added to the atmospheric temperature to correct for a difference; however, it was found to be slight in the present case.