A compact steel cord is provided. The cord includes a core-filament I steel wire with a diameter of d0, and four middle-layer M steel wires with a diameter of d1 and eight outer-layer O steel wires with a diameter of d2 that are twisted around the core-filament I steel wire in the same lay direction and the same lay length. Gaps L are reserved between the outer-layer O steel wires, an average width of the gaps L is not smaller than 0.02 mm, and the total size of the gaps L is larger than d0 and smaller than d1. The steel cord of a stable structure can be obtained by controlling the proportion of the sizes of all layers of monofilaments, the rubber coating performance of a tire cord can also be improved, the corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance, impact resistance and adhesion retention of a tire are improved.

A reinforced product, which can be used in particular for the reinforcing of a finished rubber article, comprises one or more textile or metallic reinforcing threads, the said thread or threads being covered individually or collectively with a sheath comprising a sheathing composition comprising one or more block copolymers comprising at least one polyamide block and at least one polyolefin block, the sheathed thread or threads being themselves embedded in a rubber composition.

A cord-rubber composite includes one or more steel cords each including a steel wire, and rubber covering at least a part of a surface of each of the one or more steel cords. The one or more steel cords each include the steel wire and a metal nanoparticle layer stacked on a surface of the steel wire. The metal nanoparticle layer contains a first metal nanoparticle and a second metal nanoparticle. The first metal nanoparticle contains copper. The second metal nanoparticle contains one or two or more selected from zinc, cobalt, tin, iron, nickel, aluminum, and oxides thereof.

The present invention relates to a polymer composite having a multi-layered structure formed by implanting one or more steels and fibers into a polymer and adhering the one or more steels and fibers to the polymer and thus being lightweight and having high strength, high toughness, and high wear resistance. The polymer composite includes a polymer, a filament implanted into the polymer and adhered to the polymer, and a fiber implanted into the polymer and adhered to the polymer, in which either only the filament or the fiber is implanted into the polymer and adhered to the polymer, or the filament and the fiber are simultaneously implanted into the polymer and adhered to the polymer.

A rubber-reinforcing cord (10) includes a first fiber strand (11) and a plurality of second fiber strands (12) disposed around the first fiber strand (11). The second fiber strand (12) has a tensile elastic modulus higher by 20 GPa or more than that of the first fiber strand (11).

The present invention relates to a composite based at least on a component having a metal surface and on a polymer matrix comprising a functional diene polymer that bears at least one aromatic group. The aromatic group is substituted by at least two hydroxyl functions, where two of the hydroxyl functions are vicinal. Such a composite has a good resistance to delamination.

A tire having a rubber body in which a steel cord is embedded, wherein a layer composed of Zn.sub.xCo.sub.yO is formed at the interface between the steel cord and the rubber body and x+y is 5/6 or more and 1 or less.

A wire drawing apparatus (10) is used in a final drawing process to ensure adequate initial performance of adhesion between brass-plated steel wire and rubber without a drop in productivity. At least one of the die (14z) disposed in the most downstream position, the die (14y) disposed in the second most downstream position, and the die (14x) disposed in the third most downstream position is a drawing die having a friction coefficient of 0.12 to 0.41 with the brass-plated steel wire. The other dies (14) are drawing dies each having a friction coefficient of 0.1 or below. By using these drawing dies, brass-plated steel wire (13) is drawn, and a noncrystalline portion of high lattice defect density is formed on the surface of the crystalline portion of the brass-plating layer of the brass-plated steel wire (13).

There is provided a steel cord including a steel wire and a plating layer that covers the steel wire and has Cu, Zn, and Co, wherein Cu and Zn are alloyed and a region covered with Co and a region not covered with Co are mixed on the outermost surface of the plating layer.

A process for manufacturing an elongated steel element for reinforcing rubber products includes forming, on an elongated steel element, a coating of a ternary or quaternary alloy of copper-M-zinc, where M is one or two metals selected from cobalt, nickel, tin, indium, manganese, iron, bismuth and molybdenum; drawing the elongated steel element in an aqueous lubricant containing a phosphorus compound and nitrate; and twisting two or more of the elongated steel elements into a steel cord. A copper content inside the coating is 58 to 75 wt %. A content of the one or two metals inside the coating is 0.5 to 10 wt %. A final reduction in a diameter of the elongated steel element occurs during the drawing step. The phosphorus compound is present on and/or in the coating in an amount of 0.3 to 1 mg/m.sup.2 of the coating, as measured via an Inductively Coupled Plasma technique.