Effect Of Various Materials Selection On Physical And Mechanical Properties Of Tire Tread

In this study, the main objectives was to identify recommended grade of synthetic rubber, variations of carbon black concentration and aromatic processing oil content on physical and mechanical properties for tire tread application. First of all, the curing characteristics was measured using the Oscillating Disk Rheometer (ODR). It is used to measure the complete curing characteristic of the rubber compounds from an uncured compound to a cured compound at a specific temperature according to ASTM D-2084. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength, tensile modulus, elongation at break and tear resistance were measured through Go Tech Testing machine. The physical properties such as hardness was measured using hardness tester, Croydon Wallace hardness and Teclock. The abrasion resistance index was measured using abrasion tester, GT-7012-D. In this project, there were six different grades of synthetic rubber that were used, the phr or carbon black loading was set at 28 phr, 33 phr, 35 phr and 38 phr and the aromatic processing oil content was set at 13 phr, 17 phr, 20 phr and 22 phr respectively. The results revealed that different grade of synthetic rubber shows different physical and mechanical properties while the incorporation of higher carbon black loading and aromatic processing oil content lead to the increment of tensile strength, modulus, tear resistance, hardness and abrasion resistance index while the elongation at break was reduced at higher filler loadings and oil content. These properties were improved due to a better filler interaction with rubber and enhanced the dispersion of the filler inside the rubber compound