Material Mixing for High-Quality Tire Manufacturing

A scalable method to disperse reduced graphene oxide (RGO) in rubber composites without using solvents. The method involves milling RGO with a liquid rubber to improve dispersion and prevent stacking compared to dry milling. The RGO and liquid rubber are ball milled together with milling media until the RGO particles reach the desired size. This milled RGO-liquid rubber mixture can then be added to rubber compounds during mixing. The liquid rubber acts as a co-agent to reduce RGO agglomeration and stacking during rubber processing.

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A method for forming tire components like treads using a rotatable applicator head to coextrude rubber compounds with varying volume ratios. The rotatable head allows complex tire designs with specific performance and durability characteristics by coextruding multiple compounds from a single head. The head rotates around the tire build direction to prevent material curling and ensure uniform flow as the rubber changes direction. This allows efficient production of coextruded strips with varied compound ratios that can be used to manufacture complex tire components like treads with improved performance and durability.

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A functionalized rubber with improved filler compatibility for tire compounds. The rubber is made by end-group functionalizing a living anionic polymer like styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) with a specific terminator. The terminator has a structure containing alkane diyl, alkyl, and alkyl groups. This functionalization improves the rubber's affinity for fillers like silica and carbon black, enhancing filler dispersion, interface formation, and filler network building. The functionalized rubber can be used in tire compounds for better tire properties like stress-strain, abrasion resistance, and tear propagation resistance.

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Rubber compound for pneumatic tires with improved dispersion of lignin, a natural dispersant derived from wood pulping processes, by functionalizing it. The functionalized lignin has groups like -OCH3, -OH, and -COOCH3 that increase its compatibility with the rubber matrix. Using this functionalized lignin as a dispersing agent instead of unmodified lignin provides better dispersion of fillers like silica in the rubber compound. This leads to improved rubber compound properties like reduced viscosity, lower rolling resistance, and better abrasion resistance in tire parts made from the compound.

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Rubber composition with improved dispersion and reinforcement properties for tires. The composition contains partially pre-hydrophobated silica dispersed in the rubber matrix. The silica is pre-treated with an alkylsilane to make it more dispersible in the rubber. This avoids using high silica loadings which can negatively impact dispersion. The pre-treatment leaves some unreacted hydroxyl groups on the silica. In situ curing then couples the silica to the rubber using a separate silane coupling agent. This fixes the dispersed silica and provides reinforcement without hindering dispersion.

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Rubber compositions containing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with specific surface area, oxygen content, and non-aromaticity/aromaticity ratio for improved mixing and dispersion in rubber compounds. The rGO has a surface area of at least 700 m2/g, oxygen content less than 8%, and non-aromaticity/aromaticity ratio of at least 0.7. This rGO provides rigidity and reinforcement when added to rubber compositions mixed in internal mixers, unlike other rGOs. The optimal rGO characteristics enable good dispersion and distribution in the rubber matrix.

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Modified liquid diene rubber for improving filler dispersion in rubber compositions like tires. The rubber has two types of polymer blocks with different reactivities, one containing butadiene units and the other a dissimilar polymer. The blocks are modified with a silane compound. The modified rubber contains functional groups derived from the silane. This modification enhances filler dispersion in the rubber composition and crosslinked product, leading to improved properties like wet grip and abrasion resistance. The modified rubber has 0.1-50 parts by mass per 100 parts of base rubber, and filler content is 20-200 parts by mass.

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In situ isomerization of polybutadiene during rubber composition mixing to improve low-temperature properties of rubber compositions containing high cis-1,4 polybutadiene. The isomerization reduces the cis-1,4 content by converting some cis bonds to trans. This is done by adding disulfide isomerization agents like 2,2-dithiobis(benzothiazole) during mixing in an internal mixer. The mixing generates heat to isomerize the polybutadiene. This allows using higher cis-1,4 polybutadiene in tires without crystallization and stiffening at low temperatures. The isomerization reduces the cis-1,4 content enough to prevent crystallization without needing to use lower cis-1,4 polybutadiene.

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A process to make rubber compounds with improved properties by using a metallated aminosilane compound as an initiator for anionic polymerization. The metallated aminosilane compound is prepared by reacting a metallating agent with a compound containing an aminosilane functional group. This metallated aminosilane initiator is then used to polymerize rubber monomers in place of traditional initiators. The aminosilane functionality in the initiator improves rubber properties like mixing, dispersion, and hysteresis loss.

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A method to prepare modified styrene-butadiene rubber with improved properties for tires. The method involves polymerizing styrene and butadiene with a metal catalyst to create an "active polymer" with reactive sites. This active polymer is then mixed with a modifier in a specific way to modify the polymer chain ends. The mixing is done at low flow rates and controlled Reynolds numbers to ensure homogeneous mixing. The modified polymer has enhanced properties like rolling resistance, tensile strength, and wet grip compared to unmodified SBR.

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Using functionalized lignin as a dispersant in rubber compounds for tire treads to improve lignin dispersion and rubber compound properties. The functionalized lignin has multiple functional groups like esters and ethers. This modified lignin provides better dispersion of the natural rubber filler in the compound compared to unmodified lignin. The functionalized lignin also improves the compound's viscosity, dynamic properties, and abrasion resistance.

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Polymer with pendant associative groups along its chain to improve filler dispersion in composites like rubber. The polymer has specific monomer units and grafted pendant groups. The main chain units are butadiene-based with controlled structures. The grafted pendant groups contain associative groups like imidazolidinyl, triazolyl, triazinyl, ureido-pyrimidyl. They have reactive groups that attach to the polymer chain during grafting. The associative groups allow filler interaction to improve dispersion. The polymer can be made by grafting a modifying agent containing the pendant groups to a diene polymer.

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Method to produce masterbatches with improved filler dispersion in rubber for tires. The method involves mixing a rubber latex with a filler dispersion having specific zeta potential ranges, then adjusting the zeta potential of the resulting latex compound to a narrow range. This enhances filler dispersion in rubber compared to direct mixing of latex and filler. The zeta potential ranges are -100 to -20 mV for the latex and -90 to -10 mV for the filler dispersion. Adjusting the latex compound zeta potential to -30 to 0 mV further improves filler dispersion.

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A method to improve dispersibility of microfibrillated cellulose in rubber compositions for tires by oxidizing the cellulose fibers with an N-oxyl compound and then mixing with rubber latex and coagulating at pH 2-6. This step before vulcanization enables better dispersion of the cellulose fibers in the rubber matrix, resulting in improved tire properties like fuel economy, tensile strength, adhesion, resistance to tension set, and building processability compared to unoxidized cellulose.

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Rubber composition for tires with improved processability and reduced rubber degradation during mixing. The composition contains a diene rubber, a silane coupling agent with a mercapto group, and a polysulfide compound. The key step is to initially knead the rubber and polysulfide compound before adding the mercapto silane coupling agent. This prevents gelation during mixing by capturing the reactive mercapto groups on the polysulfide compound instead of the rubber. This allows using the mercapto silane coupling agent without issues in mixing.

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A method for producing a masterbatch with improved filler dispersion in rubber compositions. The method involves mixing a rubber latex with a filler dispersion having specific zeta potentials, resulting in a latex compound with optimized zeta potential. The latex compound has a zeta potential range of -20 to 0 mV. This enhances filler dispersion in rubber when using the masterbatch in applications like tire rubber compositions. The method involves mixing a latex with a filler dispersion having zeta potentials of -100 to -20 mV and 10 to 90 mV respectively, preparing the latex compound with zeta potential of -20 to 0 mV. This finely disperses fillers like microfibrillated fibers and crystalline polymers in the rubber matrix.

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A method to improve the performance of silica-filled rubber compositions used in tires by in-situ functionalization of the rubber with a small amount of mercaptoorganosilane. The functionalization is done during mixing of the rubber composition before curing. It involves adding a minimal amount of mercaptoorganosilane (MOAS) to the rubber and silica mixture in the initial non-productive mixing stage. The MOAS reacts with the rubber to functionalize it with alkoxysilane groups that can react with the silica during curing. This improves the silica dispersion and rubber-silica bonding, leading to better tire properties like lower rolling resistance and higher traction. The MOAS addition order in the mixing stages is critical for performance.

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A rubber composition for tires made from guayule rubber that provides better processing properties compared to guayule rubber alone. The composition contains guayule rubber, silica filler, and optionally other rubber like styrene-butadiene or polybutadiene. The guayule rubber has lower protein content and trace amounts of resins compared to Hevea rubber. This enables better mixing and processing when silica is added, compared to using guayule rubber with higher protein content. The composition can have 15-90 phr silica, with 20-80 phr being optimal for tire applications.

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A method for preparing silica-reinforced rubber compositions with improved properties by separating the mixing steps of the silicas and elastomers. The method involves making two masterbatches: one with silica and silica coupling agent, and another with prehydrophobated silica. These masterbatches are mixed together, then sulfur curatives are added separately. This allows reaction of the coupling agent with the silica and elastomers in the first masterbatch, isolating it from the reaction in the second masterbatch. Blending the masterbatches promotes further reaction between the coupling agent and remaining silica in the second masterbatch.

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Using aminosilane-functionalized polymers in tire rubber compounds to reduce hysteresis loss and improve physical properties. The aminosilane groups in the polymer improve interaction with fillers and other components, leading to better dispersion and mixing. The aminosilane functionality is introduced by metallating an aminosilane compound to make an initiator for anionic polymerization.

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