The subject invention is directed towards tire components which are comprised of rubber compositions which are comprised of (1) about 2 phr to about 45 phr of a trans-1,4-isoprene-butadiene copolymer which has about 4 weight percent to about 16 weight percent butadiene repeat units and from about 84 weight percent to about 96 weight percent isoprene repeat units, wherein the trans-1,4-isoprene-butadiene copolymer has a Mooney ML 1+4 viscosity which is within the range of about 35 to about 80; and (2) about 55 phr to about 98 phr of at least one other elastomer, preferably a diene based elastomer. The most preferred tire components are those which contain cord reinforcements and require adequate green strength to enhance the tire building and shaping process to maintain cord integrity in the final cured tire.

A rubber composition comprising, per 100 parts by mass of a total amount of a rubber component, 0.1 to 10 parts by mass of a compound represented by the following general formula (1)

##STR00001## wherein at least one of R.sub.1 to R.sub.5 is an —OH group or an —OCH.sub.3 group and others are each an —H group or a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, A is an unsaturated bond or an alkylene group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms and optionally having an —H group, a —CH.sub.3 group, an —NH.sub.2 group, an —O— group, or an —OH group, n is an integer of 0 to 10, and B is a —COOH group, an —OH group, or an ═O group and optionally forms a ring structure with adjacent R.sub.1 or R.sub.5.

An object of the invention is to provide a pneumatic tire having excellent durability. In the pneumatic tire, a content of sulfur (US) in a rubber composition (U) used in an upper bead filler, a content of sulfur (LS) in a rubber composition (L) used in a lower bead filler, and a content of sulfur (PS) in a rubber composition (P) used in a pad satisfy the following Expression (1) and Expression (2).

4.0<LS-US<7.0  Expression (1)

4.0<LS-PS<7.0  Expression (2)

The present disclosure is directed to rubber compositions comprising a conjugated diene rubber, a reinforcing silica filler, and a whey protein component. The whey protein component is in an amount sufficient to provide about 0.1 to about 10 phr whey protein. The present disclosure is also directed to methods of preparing such rubber compositions and to tire components containing the rubber compositions disclosed herein.

A tire is provided with an external sidewall, said external sidewall comprising a composition based on at least one elastomeric matrix comprising at least one diene elastomer selected from the group consisting of butadiene polymers having a glass transition temperature of less than or equal to −50° C., and a thermoplastic elastomer comprising at least one elastomer block and at least one thermoplastic block, the thermoplastic elastomer not comprising a polyisobutylene block; a liquid plasticizer exhibiting a glass transition temperature of less than −70° C.; a crosslinking system; and a reinforcing filler.

The present invention is directed to compounds represented by the formula (I): wherein R.sub.1 comprises a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 2 carbon atoms. wherein R.sub.2 comprises an alkylene group, an arylene group, or a heterocyclic group. The three R.sub.2 groups may be the same or different. wherein A comprises an alkyl, an aryl, or an alkylaryl group. The three A groups may be the same or different.39

##STR00001##

The invention describes a process for producing a diene polymer, the process comprising the following steps in this order: i) polymerizing one or more diene monomers in the presence of a catalyst composition to give a reaction mixture; ii) adding to the reaction mixture one or more alkoxysilane compounds; iii) adding S.sub.2Cl.sub.2, SCl.sub.2, SOCl.sub.2, S.sub.2Br.sub.2, SOBr.sub.2 or a mixture thereof to the reaction mixture; and iv) optionally adding a protic agent to the reaction mixture so as to deactivate the catalyst. The invention further includes polymers that are obtainable according to this process, as well as products including the polymer.

A rubber component for a tire is disclosed that is manufactured from a rubber composition that is based upon a cross-linkable elastomer composition that includes 100 phr of two elastomer types including at least 50 phr of a styrene-butadiene copolymer (SBR) with a polybutadiene (BR) as the remainder. Such compositions may further include between 75 phr and 130 phr of a carbon black. Also included in such elastomers is a plasticizing system that includes a plasticizing resin having a glass transition temperature (Tg) of at least 25° C. and a plasticizing liquid. The plasticizing system is added in an effective amount to provide the cured rubber composition with a shear modulus G* measured at 60° C. of between 0.7 MPa and 1.6 MPa and a measured Tg of between −30° C. and 0° C. The elastomer composition is cured with curing system that includes both a peroxide and sulfur.

A tire is provided with an external sidewall, said external sidewall comprising at least one elastomeric composition based on: (a) an elastomeric matrix comprising at least one diene elastomer, (b) a crosslinking system, and (c) at least one polymer incompatible with the elastomeric matrix. A process for the preparation of an elastomeric composition for an external sidewall is also disclosed.

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.