English Abstract

Study on Solution SBR with Modified Chain End for Fuel Efficient Tire

Takuo SONE
Takeshi YUASA
JSR Corporation, Performance Polymer Research Laboratories, Polymer Materials Laboratory, Yokkaichi, Mie, Japan
Nippon Gomu Kyokaishi,(2010),83(4),103-108 General Review in Japanese
In recent, the reduction of rolling resistance of tires has become more significant in the tire industry, because it has close relation to the fuel consumption efficiency and CO2 emission of motor vehicles. Rolling resistance of tire is closely related to hysteresis loss properties of tire tread compounds. Dispersibility of filler is considered to affect hysteresis loss. Some styrene butadiene rubbers with functional groups at chain ends have been developed by solution polymerization system (S-SBRs) to achieve good interaction with silica filler. They showed significant reduction in the hysteresis loss of silica reinforced compounds. Especially, the modified S-SBR with both primary amino group and alkoxysilyl group exhibited excellently lower hysteresis loss properties. In order to observe the dispersibility of silica in compounds with this modified S-SBR directly, the measurements of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and ultra small angle X-ray scattering (USAXS) were carried out. As the results, the excellent dispersion states of silica in the compounds with this modified S-SBR was observed, and we found that smaller size of silica aggregates could reduce the hysteresis loss to much lower level. This result coincided with those obtained by dynamic viscoelstic measurement.

In recent, the reduction of rolling resistance of tires has become more significant in the tire industry, because it has close relation to the fuel consumption efficiency and CO2 emission of motor vehicles. Rolling resistance of tire is closely related to hysteresis loss properties of tire tread compounds. Dispersibility of filler is considered to affect hysteresis loss. Some styrene butadiene rubbers with functional groups at chain ends have been developed by solution polymerization system (S-SBRs) to achieve good interaction with silica filler. They showed significant reduction in the hysteresis loss of silica reinforced compounds. Especially, the modified S-SBR with both primary amino group and alkoxysilyl group exhibited excellently lower hysteresis loss properties. In order to observe the dispersibility of silica in compounds with this modified S-SBR directly, the measurements of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and ultra small angle X-ray scattering (USAXS) were carried out. As the results, the excellent dispersion states of silica in the compounds with this modified S-SBR was observed, and we found that smaller size of silica aggregates could reduce the hysteresis loss to much lower level. This result coincided with those obtained by dynamic viscoelstic measurement.

Keywords: S-SBR, Modification, Hysteresis Loss, Silica, Dispersibility