JP2011136670A - Pneumatic tire - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the durability of a tire, while decreasing the amount of use of petroleum resources, and reducing its rolling resistance. <P>SOLUTION: A band layer 9 covering at least the outer end 7E of a belt layer 7 in the axial direction of the tire is disposed on the outside in the radial direction of the belt layer 7. The band layer 9 is formed by spirally winding a small-width long belt-like cord ply 10 having a cord arrangement body 11A coated with topping rubber 12. In the cord arrangement body, a rayon fiber cord 11 or a plurality of rayon fiber cords 11 are aligned parallel to each other. The topping rubber 12 is formed from short fiber silica-filled rubber G0 in which short fibers of natural materials and silica are mixed into a rubber ingredient. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire in which the durability of a band layer is improved while reducing the amount of petroleum resources used and further reducing rolling resistance.

  For example, as shown in Patent Document 1, a plurality of organic fiber cords (band cords) arranged in parallel with each other are coated with a topping rubber on the outer side in the radial direction of the belt layer in order to improve the high-speed durability performance of the tire. A tire structure is often used in which a band layer is formed by spirally winding a small and long belt-like cord ply. Conventionally, nylon fiber cords having excellent breaking strength and durability have been widely used as band cords for this band layer.

  In recent years, as shown in Patent Document 2, for example, a tire formed mainly of raw materials derived from non-petroleum resources (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “eco-tire”) has attracted attention in order to improve the global environment. As for the band cords, the use of rayon fiber cords derived from non-petroleum resources using natural materials as raw materials is being considered as an alternative to nylon fiber cords derived from non-petroleum resources.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-40013 JP-A-2003-63206

  However, rayon fiber cords have high water absorption, and tend to decrease the adhesion to rubber when the moisture content exceeds 4%, for example. In addition, since the breaking strength is low and brittle, the cord may break during high-speed running or the like.

  In addition, in order to reduce the rolling resistance of the tire for the eco-tire, it has been studied to replace carbon black as a reinforcing agent for topping rubber with silica derived from resources other than petroleum in the band layer.

  Therefore, the present invention is based on the use of a short fiber / silica blended rubber in which natural short fibers and silica are blended in the topping rubber of the belt-like cord ply, reducing the amount of petroleum resources used, and further reducing rolling resistance. An object of the present invention is to provide a pneumatic tire in which the durability of the tire is improved while achieving reduction.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention of claim 1 of the present application includes a belt layer disposed on the radially outer side of the toroidal carcass extending from the tread portion through the sidewall portion to the bead core of the bead portion and inside the tread portion. A belt layer disposed on the outer side in the radial direction of the belt layer and covering at least an outer end portion in the tire axial direction of the belt layer;
The band layer is formed by spirally winding a narrow and long belt-like cord ply in which a cord array in which one rayon fiber cord or a plurality of rayon fiber cords are aligned in parallel is covered with a topping rubber. And formed by
The topping rubber is characterized by comprising a short fiber / silica blend rubber in which a short fiber of natural material and silica are blended in a rubber component.

  In the invention of claim 2, the short fibers of the short fiber / silica-containing rubber are formed by immersing in at least a part of the surface thereof in an RFL solution in which a condensate of resorcinol and formaldehyde is dispersed in latex. It is characterized by having an adhesive layer.

  In the invention of claim 3, the short fiber / silica compounded rubber is characterized in that 10 to 50 parts by mass of short fibers and 20 to 60 parts by mass of silica are compounded with respect to 100 parts by mass of the rubber component.

  In the invention of claim 4, the band layer is an edge band ply that covers a range of 10% or more and 20% or less of the tire layer axial width WB of the belt layer from the outer end of the belt layer in the tire axial direction. It is characterized by.

  As described above, in the present invention, the band-shaped cord ply for forming the band layer uses a rayon fiber cord derived from a resource other than petroleum as the band cord, and the topping rubber is a short blend of natural short fibers and silica. Fiber / silica compound rubber is used. Therefore, the amount of petroleum resources used can be reduced as compared with a conventional band layer using nylon fiber cords as band cords. Moreover, since the fuel efficiency can be improved by reducing the rolling resistance of the tire by blending silica, it can contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

  Moreover, the short fiber blended with the topping rubber relatively increases the circumferential rigidity of the band layer. Therefore, the load on the rayon fiber cord is reduced, for example, the tensile stress acting on the rayon fiber cord can be reduced, and the breakage damage of the cord is suppressed. In addition, the improvement in circumferential rigidity due to short fibers also reduces shear strain between rayon fiber cords and topping rubber, so high-speed durability and general durability are almost the same as when using nylon fiber cords as band cords. Sex can be secured.

It is sectional drawing which shows one Example of the pneumatic tire of this invention. It is the schematic which shows an example of a band layer. (A), (B) is the schematic which shows the other example of a band layer. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the strip | belt-shaped cord ply used for a band layer. (A), (B) is sectional drawing which shows the other example of a strip | belt-shaped cord ply.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view when the pneumatic tire 1 of the present invention is a radial tire for passenger cars, and a toroidal carcass 6 extending from the tread portion 2 to the sidewall portion 3 to the bead core 5 of the bead portion 4. The belt layer 7 disposed at the radially outer side of the carcass 6 and inside the tread portion 2 and the band layer 9 disposed at the radially outer side of the belt layer 7 are provided.

  The carcass 6 is formed of one or more carcass plies 6A, in this example, one carcass ply 6A in which an array of carcass cords arranged at an angle of, for example, 75 ° to 90 ° with respect to the tire circumferential direction is covered with a topping rubber. Is done. The carcass ply 6A includes a series of ply turn-up portions 6b that are turned from the inner side to the outer side in the tire axial direction around the bead core 5 at both ends of the toroid-like ply main body portion 6a straddling the bead cores 5 and 5. Further, a bead apex rubber 8 for bead reinforcement extending in a tapered shape from the bead core 5 to the outer side in the tire radial direction is disposed between the ply main body portion 6a and the ply turn-up portion 6b.

  The belt layer 7 includes two or more belt plies 7A, in this example, two belt plies 7A, in which an array of belt cords arranged at an angle of 10 ° to 35 ° with respect to the tire circumferential direction is covered with a topping rubber. 7B. In the belt layer 7, the belt cords cross each other between the plies 7 </ b> A and 7 </ b> B, thereby increasing the belt rigidity and strongly reinforcing the substantially entire width of the tread portion 2.

  In the tire of the present invention, the carcass cord and the belt cord are not particularly restricted, but cords derived from non-oil resources are preferable from the viewpoint of reducing the amount of petroleum resources used. In the carcass cord, natural fibers made from natural materials as raw materials A cord can be suitably used.

  As this natural fiber cord, the cord of the regenerated cellulose fiber which processed the cellulose which is a fiber of a vegetable fiber, and the refined cellulose fiber can be used conveniently. The regenerated cellulose fiber is obtained by once chemically decomposing cellulose using a solvent and then coagulating and regenerating it. Rayon, acetate, cupra and the like are known. The purified cellulose fiber is obtained by physically refining cellulose without chemically decomposing it, and is formed by dissolving and continuously spinning cellulose molecules. As this refined cellulose fiber, for example, lyocell (trademark of Lenzing) or Tencel (trademark of Coatles) is known. In this example, these regenerated cellulose fibers and purified cellulose fibers are used as carcass cords. Depending on the requirements, synthetic fiber cords derived from petroleum resources such as nylon and polyester can be used, but in this case, using recycled fibers such as recycled polyester fibers is preferable from the viewpoint of reducing the amount of petroleum resources used. preferable.

  For the belt cord, a conventional metal cord derived from non-petroleum resources, such as a steel cord, can be preferably used.

  Next, the band layer 9 is arranged on the outer side in the radial direction of the belt layer 7 and covers at least the outer end portion 7E in the tire axial direction of the belt layer 7 to restrain the outer end portion 7E. As a result, lifting and outer diameter growth starting from the outer end portion 7E caused by centrifugal force due to high-speed traveling are suppressed, and high-speed durability is improved.

  In this example, as shown in FIG. 2, the band layer 9 is formed of a full band ply 9A that covers substantially the entire width of the belt layer 7 including the outer end portion 7E. However, for example, as shown in FIG. 3 (A), it is formed from a pair of left and right edge band plies 9B, 9B covering only the outer end 7E, or as shown in FIG. A combination of the band ply 9A and the edge band plies 9B and 9B may be used as appropriate.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the full band ply 9A and the edge band ply 9B have a topping rubber made of a cord array 11A in which one rayon fiber cord 11 or a plurality of rayon fiber cords 11 are aligned in parallel to each other. The belt-shaped cord ply 10 having a small width and long length covered with 12 is wound spirally. The width W and the thickness t of the belt-like cord ply 10 are not particularly restricted, but are 5-10 mm wide and 0.7-3.0 mm thick as in the case of the belt-like cord ply used for the conventional band layer. This is preferable from the viewpoint that a conventional winding device can be used.

  The topping rubber 12 is formed from a short fiber / silica compounded rubber G0 in which natural rubber short fibers and silica are blended in a rubber component.

  As the rubber component of the short fiber / silica compound rubber G0, diene rubbers such as natural rubber, styrene butadiene rubber, butadiene rubber and isoprene rubber are used alone or in combination. From this viewpoint, it is particularly preferable that the rubber component contains natural rubber in an amount of 65% by mass or more, and further 75% by mass or more. Examples of the natural rubber include epoxidized natural rubber obtained by epoxidizing a part of natural rubber by a method such as a chlorohydrin method, a direct oxidation method, a hydrogen peroxide method, an alkyl hydroperoxide method, or a peracid method.

  The short fibers used in the short fiber / silica-containing rubber G0 are natural materials. Examples of the short fibers of the natural material include plant fibers, animal fibers, the regenerated cellulose fibers, and the short fibers of the purified cellulose fibers. The regenerated cellulose fibers and the purified cellulose fibers are preferable from the viewpoint of the reinforcing effect. . If the short fiber is too fine, the reinforcing effect tends to be reduced. If the short fiber is too coarse, the durability tends to be reduced, for example, the belt-like cord ply 10 is likely to crack. Accordingly, when the short fibers are classified with a sieve, a Tyler mesh having a roughness that passes through 20 mesh and does not pass through 60 mesh can be suitably used. It is preferable that the short fiber has an average diameter D of 1 to 50 μm, an average length L of 100 to 3000 μm, and an aspect ratio L / D of 10 to 500 which is a ratio of the average length L to the average diameter D. Can be adopted.

  Moreover, in order to improve adhesiveness with a rubber component, it is preferable to provide the adhesive layer formed by immersing in the RFL solution in at least one part of the surface in the said short fiber. Such a short fiber can be obtained, for example, by the following method. First, fiber cords or fiber yarns (hereinafter collectively referred to as fiber cords or the like) used as the short fiber material are immersed in the RFL solution. Thereafter, the fiber cord and the like are heated and dried at a temperature of 100 to 160 ° C. (for example, about 120 ° C.), and the dried fiber cord and the like are further heated at a temperature of 215 to 260 ° C. for 1 to 4 minutes. In addition, the binding force between the fiber cord and the like and the solid content of the RFL solution adhering thereto is increased. Thereafter, the fiber cord or the like is pulverized by a pulverizer, thereby forming a short fiber having an adhesive layer made of a solid content of the RFL solution on at least a part of the surface. The RFL solution is a well-known treatment solution for adhesion in which a condensate of resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) is dispersed in rubber latex (L).

The short fiber / silica compound rubber G0 contains silica as a rubber reinforcing agent. The silica is not particularly limited, but rubber having a colloidal characteristic with a nitrogen adsorption specific surface area (BET) in the range of 150 to 250 m ² / g and a dibutyl phthalate (DBP) oil absorption of 180 ml / 100 g or more is used. It is preferable in terms of reinforcing effect on rubber and rubber processability. Such silica can reduce the amount of petroleum resources by reducing the amount of carbon black used, and also contributes to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by reducing tire rolling resistance and improving fuel efficiency. Yes.

  The belt-like cord ply 10 is formed using a known topping device, and the short fibers blended at this time are oriented along the length direction of the belt-like cord ply 10 which is the extrusion direction. Accordingly, the band-shaped cord ply 10 is spirally wound to form the band layer 9, whereby the short fibers are oriented in the tire circumferential direction, and the circumferential rigidity of the band layer 9 is relatively enhanced. As a result, the tensile stress acting on the rayon fiber cord 11 is reduced, and the load on the rayon fiber cord 11 is reduced, whereby breakage damage to the cord is suppressed.

  Further, the shear strain between the rayon fiber cord 11 and the topping rubber 12 is also reduced by improving the circumferential rigidity by the short fibers. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the cord peeling due to the hygroscopic property of the rayon fiber cord 11 and further the cord peeling due to the cord and rubber lowering of the cord and rubber adhesion due to the silica compounding. It is possible to ensure excellent high-speed durability and general durability that are almost the same as when a nylon fiber cord is used.

  In the short fiber / silica compound rubber G0, it is preferable to mix 10 to 50 parts by mass of short fibers and 20 to 60 parts by mass of silica with respect to 100 parts by mass of the rubber component. When the blended amount of the short fibers is less than 10 parts by mass, the burden on the rayon fiber cord 11 and the shear strain between the rayon fiber cord 11 and the topping rubber 12 are insufficient, The lifting of the belt layer 7 and the suppression of the growth of the outer diameter cannot be sufficiently achieved, and it becomes difficult to ensure high-speed durability and general durability. On the other hand, when the blending amount of silica is less than 20 parts by mass, the amount of petroleum resources used and the rolling resistance cannot be sufficiently reduced. On the contrary, when the blending amount of the short fibers exceeds 50 parts by mass and the blending amount of silica exceeds 60 parts by mass, the band layer 9 becomes too hard and brittle, and tends to impair general durability. . Therefore, the lower limit of the blend amount of the short fibers is more preferably 15 parts by mass or more, and the upper limit is more preferably 35 parts by mass or less. Further, the lower limit of the amount of silica is more preferably 25 parts by mass or more, and the upper limit is more preferably 55 parts by mass or less. When silica and carbon black are mixed, it is preferable from the viewpoint of high-speed durability that the total amount of each compound is larger than 40 parts by mass.

  In the belt-like cord ply 10, minute irregularities are generated on the surface due to the blending of short fibers. Therefore, when the belt-like cord ply 10 is wound on the belt layer 7, the adhesiveness with the belt layer 7 is reduced, and the band layer 9. It is disadvantageous to the formation efficiency. Therefore, in the belt-like cord ply 10, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, from the short fiber non-blended rubber G 1 not blended with the short fiber in the main body portion 10 A using the short fiber / silica blended rubber G 0. It is preferable to provide a covering layer 10B that covers at least the upper surface S1 and the lower surface S2 of the main body 10A. In this case, in the short fiber non-blended rubber G1, carbon black can be used as a reinforcing agent, but it is preferable to use silica. The thickness T of the coating layer 10B is preferably in the range of 0.2 to 1.0 mm. If the thickness T is less than 0.2 mm, the effect of improving the adhesion by the coating layer 10B cannot be expected. Since the proportion of the short fiber / silica compound rubber G0 in the band layer 9 is reduced, it is disadvantageous for improving the durability.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3A, the band layer 9 can be formed by edge band plies 9B and 9B. In this case, the edge band ply 9B is formed from the outer end of the belt layer 7 in the tire axial direction. The belt layer 7 is preferably formed so as to cover the range Y of 10% or more and 20% or less of the width WB in the tire axial direction. If the coating range Y is less than 10%, the effect of improving high-speed durability is not sufficiently achieved. Further, even if it exceeds 20%, no further increase in the effect of improving the high-speed durability is expected, leading to an unnecessary increase in cost.

  However, in addition to the high-speed durability, the edge band ply 9B can be formed to exceed 20% in order to improve steering stability and road noise performance, and further, between the edge band plies 9B and 9B. On a certain tire equator side, a band auxiliary layer 13 (indicated by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 3 (A)) is formed by spirally winding a small and long belt-like cord ply in which an auxiliary cord is covered with a topping rubber. You can also. On the tire equator side, the lifting and outer diameter growth are unlikely to occur, and therefore the natural fiber cord, for example, rayon fiber cord, can be used as the auxiliary cord. Non-fiber compounded rubber can be used. When the band auxiliary layer 13 is formed, the side edge part of the band auxiliary layer 13 and the side edge part of the edge band ply 9B can be overlapped with each other or separated from each other.

  As mentioned above, although especially preferable embodiment of this invention was explained in full detail, this invention is not limited to embodiment of illustration, It can deform | transform and implement in a various aspect.

  In order to confirm the operation and effect of the present invention, a radial tire for a passenger car having a tire size of 195 / 65R15 having the internal structure shown in FIG. 1 is manufactured according to the specifications shown in Table 1, and the high-speed durability and general durability of each sample tire are as follows. Sex was tested and compared with each other. A sample of the band-shaped cord ply for forming the band layer was made as a trial, and the adhesion between the band-shaped cord plies after vulcanization was tested. Each tire has substantially the same specifications except for the band layer specifications listed in Table 1.

  In the comparative example and the example, the belt-like cord ply is formed without a covering layer. Moreover, the thing of the roughness which passes 40 mesh as a short fiber and does not pass 50 mesh was used. Further, the band auxiliary layer is formed by using a belt-like cord ply in which rayon fiber cords (1260d / 2) are arranged as in the comparative example *.

(1) High speed durability:
In accordance with 6.4 “High-speed performance test A” of JIS D4230, using a drum tester under the conditions of rim (15 × 6), internal pressure (280 kPa), load (4.83 kN), initial speed (170 km / h) Up to 190km / h, step up by 10km / h every 10 minutes,
And at 200 km / h or more, it was stepped up by 10 km / h every 20 minutes, and the speed and time when the tread portion was damaged were measured. The case where the speed when the tread portion was damaged was 210 km / h or more was regarded as acceptable.

(2) General durability:
After running 30,000 km at a speed of 80 km / h under the conditions of rim (15x6), internal pressure (190 kPa), load (6.96 kN) using a drum tester, the periphery of the band layer was disassembled and turned into a band layer It was judged visually whether damage had occurred. Those without damage were considered acceptable.

(3) Adhesiveness:
Band cords (water content 6%) arranged at equal intervals are sandwiched between two unvulcanized rubber sheets with a thickness of 0.7 mm made of compound rubber for forming strip cord plies to form corded rubber sheets At the same time, two of the corded rubber sheets were bonded together and press vulcanized at 170 ° C. for 15 minutes to produce a sample for an adhesion test. This sample is cut along the length direction of the band cord at a width of 25 cm, and pulled between the two corded rubber sheets at a tensile speed of 50 mm / min with a tensile tester in accordance with JISK6256-1. Then, the adhesive force (unit: N / 25 cm) between the corded rubber sheets was measured.

  As shown in Table 1, in the tires of the examples, the cord and rubber resulting from cord breakage damage and cord hygroscopicity while reducing the amount of petroleum resources used by adjusting the blending amount of short fibers Can prevent the deterioration of the adhesion between the cord and the rubber due to the silica compounding, and ensure the high speed durability and the general durability almost equivalent to the case of using the nylon fiber cord for the band cord. I can confirm that I can do it.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pneumatic tire 2 Tread part 3 Side wall part 4 Bead part 5 Bead core 6 Carcass 7 Belt layer 9 Band layer 10 Band-like cord ply G0 Short fiber and silica compound rubber

Claims (4)

A belt layer disposed radially outside and inside the tread portion of the toroidal carcass extending from the tread portion through the sidewall portion to the bead core of the bead portion, and disposed on the radially outer side of the belt layer and of the belt layer Including at least a band layer covering the outer end portion in the tire axial direction,
The band layer is formed by spirally winding a narrow and long belt-like cord ply in which a cord array in which one rayon fiber cord or a plurality of rayon fiber cords are aligned in parallel is covered with a topping rubber. And formed by
The pneumatic tire is characterized in that the topping rubber is composed of a short fiber / silica blend rubber in which a short fiber of natural material and silica are blended in a rubber component.   The short fiber of the short fiber / silica compound rubber has an adhesive layer formed on at least a part of its surface by dipping in an RFL solution in which a condensate of resorcinol and formaldehyde is dispersed in latex. The pneumatic tire according to claim 1, wherein   The pneumatic fiber according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the short fiber / silica blended rubber is blended with 10 to 50 parts by weight of short fibers and 20 to 60 parts by weight of silica with respect to 100 parts by weight of the rubber component. tire.   The said band layer is an edge band ply which covers the range of 10% or more and 20% or less of the tire layer axial width WB of the belt layer from the outer end of the belt layer in the tire axial direction. 4. The pneumatic tire according to any one of 3.

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