The Role of Rubber Hysteresis in Skidding Resistance Measurements

Abstract

Abstract In this paper the authors have tried to give examples of some of the more important ways in which Dr. Tabor's paper on the importance of rubber hysteresis has contributed to a better understanding of the mechanism of friction between tire and road. It is evident that a number of the problems presented by past test results may now be explained in terms of rubber hysteresis losses, in particular, the mechanism of the dependence of skidding resistance on temperature, and the differences in performance between natural and synthetic tires. In relation to testing techniques it draws attention to the importance of temperature and to the need to standardize the hysteresis loss properties of test tires in addition to the hardness of tread-rubber. Finally, the most important of all, as Dr. Tabor suggests, his work opens up the possibility of improvements in tire characteristics, which could result in greatly increased friction coefficients and hence greater freedom from skidding under wet conditions. The limited full-scale tests the authors have been able to make seem fully to confirm this possibility.