An object of the present invention is to provide a rubber composition being excellent in abrasion resistance and mold releasability. The rubber composition for a tire comprises 0.1 to 3.5 parts by mass of -9 fatty acid amide, 1 to 35 parts by mass of carbon black, 0 to 55 parts by mass of silica, and 1.5 parts by mass or less of sulfur, based on 100 parts by mass of a rubber component comprising 20% by mass or more of a butadiene rubber.

The rolling resistance of a tire has been improved without degrading industrial performance. The sidewall (30) consists of two sub-layers. A first sub-layer (FE1) of thickness E1 and volume V1 provides the expected protection functions of a sidewall as the outer wall of the tire, and a second sub-layer of the sidewall (FE2) of thickness E2 and volume V2 is optimized at low hysteresis to improve rolling resistance. The ratio V1/(V1+V2) of the volumes of the two sub-layers (FE1, FE2) is less than or equal to 0.3. The elongation at break of the compound of FE1 is greater than or equal to 200% measured at a temperature of 100? C., and the viscoelastic loss of the compound of FE2, Tan(?)max, is less than or equal to 0.10.

The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire having a pair of spaced apart bead components, a connecting carcass between the bead components, a pair of sidewalls overlying the carcass, and a rubber chafer portion adjacent to each of the sidewalls and positioned around at least a portion of each of the bead components and intended for contacting a rigid rim of a wheel, the rubber chafer portion comprising a radially innermost toe guard and a chafer adjacent to a radially outer end of the toe guard; wherein the ratio of a modulus of the toe guard to a modulus of the chafer is in the range of 3 to 10.

A rubber composition comprises a diene rubber, a hydrocarbon type wax, cashew oil and a processing aid. The rubber composition can suppress whitening of a rubber surface and additionally can give black and luster to the rubber surface. The processing aid comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a fatty acid metal salt, a fatty acid amide, a fatty acid ester and a fatty acid ester amide, wherein the proportion of constituent fatty acids having from 18 to 20 carbon atoms is from 20 to 60 mass %. A pneumatic tire has a rubber part (for example, a tread rubber, a side wall rubber or a rim strip) comprising the rubber composition.

A pneumatic tire includes bead cores, a carcass ply, an inner liner and the tread, and the crosslinked rubber composition, of the present invention, wherein the tread and the crosslinked rubber composition have a volume of the low density region of 35% or more at elongation by an applied stress of 1.5 MPa, a volume of the void portion of 7.5 or less at elongation by an applied stress of 3.0 MPa and a ratio of 40% by mass or more of a component having a weight-average molecular weight of not less than 1,000,000 in a molecular weight distribution measured by gel permeation chromatography are excellent in abrasion resistance.

Provided is a multi-component copolymer having high elasticity and excellent low heat generating property. The multi-component copolymer comprises conjugated diene units, non-conjugated olefin units and aromatic vinyl units, wherein: a peak top molecular weight of non-conjugated olefin parts linking only the non-conjugated olefin units is 40,000 or more.

The pneumatic tire of the present invention characterized by comprising: bead cores, a carcass ply, an inner liner and a tread having a volume of the low density region of 35% or more, at elongation by an applied stress of 1.5 MPa, a volume of the void portion of 7.5% or less at elongation by an applied stress of 3.0 MPa and a glass transition temperature of 20 C. or lower, and the crosslinked rubber composition of the present invention having a volume of the low density region of 35% or more at elongation by an applied stress of 1.5 MPa, a volume of the void portion of 7.5 or less at elongation by an applied stress of 3.0 MPa and a glass transition temperature of 20 C. or lower are excellent in abrasion resistance.

Rubber compositions and rubber articles manufactured from such rubber compositions that include the well-known antioxidant poly-2,2,4-trimethyl-1,2-dihydroquinoline (TMQ) having the formula (C.sub.12H.sub.15N).sub.n where n=24 as well as a methylene acceptor/donor system reinforcing resin. Such embodiments include a tire component comprising a rubber composition that is based upon a cross-linkable elastomer composition, the cross-linkable rubber composition comprising, per 100 parts by weight of rubber (phr), a highly unsaturated diene elastomer, reinforcing filler, between 0.5 phr and 10 phr of TMQ and the methylene acceptor/methylene donor.

The pneumatic tire characterized by comprising the tread and the crosslinked rubber composition, of the present invention, wherein the tread and the crosslinked rubber composition comprise two or more kinds of rubber components and a filler and have a volume of the low density region of 35% or more, a volume of the void portion of 7.5 or less and a filler distribution D represented by the following formula (I) of 2.0 or less are excellent in abrasion resistance.

D=(A.sub.1/B.sub.1)/(A.sub.0/B.sub.0)(I)

In the formula (I), A.sub.1 represents a volume fraction of a rubber component A in a filler gel, B.sub.1 represents a volume fraction of a rubber component B in a filler gel, A.sub.0 represents a volume fraction of a compounded rubber component A, B.sub.0 represents a volume fraction of a compounded rubber component B.

A rubber composition comprising a plurality of composite particles and an elastomer is provided. A composite comprising a conductive polymer and a clay particle are also provided. Use of each in various applications and methods of preparing each are also provided.