Influence of Silica-Polymer Bond Microstructure on Tire-Performance Indicators

摘要

Changes in the coupling agent structure in a silica-silane filler system lead to alterations of the microstructure of the silica-polymer interface and determine the dynamic properties, thus wet skid resistance (WSR) and rolling resistance (RR) of a tire tread. Silanes with one ethoxy-group instead of three decrease the hysteresis at 6 degrees C and increase it at low temperatures, indicating improved RR as well as WSR. A longer linker lowers the hysteresis at elevated temperatures. Lack of chemical coupling between filler and polymer results in a drop in WSR as well as an increase of RR. This implies that simple hydro-phobation of the silica surface is not sufficient to obtain good WSR and RR.