According to the process for preparing a vulcanized rubber composition of the invention comprising (a) a step of preparing a master batch comprising a butadiene rubber and silica, (b) a step of preparing a master batch comprising an isoprene rubber and silica, (c) a step of kneading the master batch obtained in (a) and the master batch obtained in (b), and (d) a step of vulcanizing a kneaded product obtained in (c), wherein the obtained vulcanized rubber composition has a BR phase and a IR phase which are incompatible with each other and comprises a predetermined amount of a terpene resin, a predetermined abundance ratio α of silica in the BR phase satisfies 0.3≦α≦0.7 (Relation 1), and a proportion β of the butadiene rubber satisfies 0.4≦β≦0.8 (Relation 2) it is possible to improve performance on ice, wet performance and abrasion resistance in good balance and to provide a vulcanized rubber composition having excellent performance on ice, wet performance and abrasion resistance, and a studless tire with a tread made using the same.

An elastomeric body for vibration damping and/or suspension, has a base body and a flame-retarding coating which covers at least one section of the base body, wherein the flame-retarding coating has at least two intumescent fire protection systems and the first fire protection system contains expandable graphite which comprises at least a first fraction with an average grain size of more than 180 μm and at least a second fraction with an average grain size of less than 180 μm, and the second fire protection system forms a support structure in the expanded state, which structure at least partially fixes the expanded graphite in the expanded state.

A problem is to provide a method for manufacturing a wet rubber masterbatch that will serve as raw material for vulcanized rubber having excellent tensile strength and tear strength and that will permit wet rubber masterbatch to be molded in a short time.

A method comprising an operation in which a collection of granules comprising a plurality of granular coagula are obtained from a liquid mixture comprising filler and rubber latex solution, and an operation in which the collection of granules is compressed under conditions satisfying Formula I, makes it possible to cause a wet rubber masterbatch capable of serving as raw material for vulcanized rubber having excellent tensile strength and tear strength to be molded in a short time.

3≦P×Da≦500  FORMULA I

(P indicates pressure (kgf/cm.sup.2) applied to the collection of granules. Da indicates granule diameter (mm) of the granular coagula.)

[Object] To provide an excellent foaming agent which does not have problems in handling and operation (example: risk of explosion or fire) and inhibition of cross-linking resulting from a foaming agent and problems, such as, mold pollution and environmental pollution, caused by a foaming agent residue, which has excellent uniform dispersibility in a subject of foaming, and which can be used as an alternative to the chemical decomposition type foaming agent.

[Solution] A foaming agent formed from at least (A) a high molecular weight compound having a saturated water absorption of 10 to 1,000 g/g in ion-exchanged water (25° C.) and (B) water, wherein a storage modulus (G′) of the agent, determined on the basis of a viscoelasticity measurement at a temperature of 20° C., is 8.0×10.sup.1 to 1.0×10.sup.6 Pa at a frequency of 5 rad/s.

An airless tire has a tread ring provided with a reinforcing rubber layer disposed radially inside a tread rubber layer and made of a rubber compound [A] comprising: 100 parts by mass of the rubber component containing 10 to 100% by mass of butadiene rubber; 10 to 80 parts by mass of an metal salt of an alpha beta unsaturated carboxylic acid; and a peroxide. A barrier layer, which restrains sulfur in an adjacent rubber compound from migrating into the reinforcing rubber layer, is disposed between the reinforcing rubber layer and the adjacent rubber compound.

A vulcanized rubber is formed by a method comprising blending a halogenated unsaturated polymer into a rubber comprised of cis 1-4 polyisoprene to form a vulcanizable polymer blend, adding a vulcanization material to the vulcanizable polymer blend, and vulcanizing the vulcanizable polymer blend to form a homogeneous vulcanized rubber. The method may be used to form a vulcanized rubber comprised of polyisoprene uniformly crosslinked with a halogenated unsaturated polymer that is a reaction product of (i) an unsaturated polymer miscible with polyisoprene and having conjugated dienes that undergo a Diels Alder reaction and (ii) a polyhalogenated cyclopentadiene.

A vulcanized rubber is formed by a method comprising blending a halogenated unsaturated polymer into a rubber comprised of cis 1-4 polyisoprene to form a vulcanizable polymer blend, adding a vulcanization material to the vulcanizable polymer blend, and vulcanizing the vulcanizable polymer blend to form a homogeneous vulcanized rubber. The method may be used to form a vulcanized rubber comprised of polyisoprene uniformly crosslinked with a halogenated unsaturated polymer that is a reaction product of (i) an unsaturated polymer miscible with polyisoprene and having conjugated dienes that undergo a Diels Alder reaction and (ii) a polyhalogenated cyclopentadiene.

Provided are reinforcing fibers using an adhesive component not containing resorcinol and formaldehyde, which are excellent in adhesiveness to rubber and which can be efficiently produced while preventing contamination of production facilities, and a method for producing them, as well as a molded article using them. The reinforcing fibers have an adhesive component that contains a conjugated diene rubber and an oil, in at least a part of the surfaces thereof, wherein the vapor pressure at 20° C. of the oil is 10 Pa or less.

A reinforced product, which can be used especially for reinforcing a finished rubber article, comprises one or more textile or metallic reinforcing thread(s), said thread(s) being covered with a sheath comprising a thermoplastic polymer composition, the sheathed thread(s) being themselves embedded in a rubber composition referred to as coating rubber, characterized in that this coating rubber is a composition based on at least one diene elastomer, silica as predominant reinforcing filler, and a sulfur-based vulcanization system, in which the ratio of the amounts, in phr (parts by weight per hundred parts by weight of elastomer), of sulfur and of reinforcing filler, is less than 0.08.

A modified polymer includes a diene-based polymeric chain and at least one end terminated with a blocked isocyanate group. The blocked isocyanate group may be the reaction product of an isocyanate and a blocking agent, and the blocking agent is selected, such that the modified polymer deblocks at temperatures of at least 100 C. An aqueous emulsion of the modified polymer may be provided that may be surfactant-free. The emulsion may be combined with one or more latexes to provide a treatment solution for a fabric or fiber that does not require the use of resorcinol and formaldehyde. Once treated and dried, the fabric or fiber may be used to impart tensile strength to rubber products, such as tires, air springs, flexible couplings, power transmission belts, conveyor belts, and fluid routing hoses.