The present invention is directed to a functionalized elastomer comprising the reaction product of a living anionic elastomeric polymer and a polymerization terminator of formula I ##STR00001##
wherein R.sup.1 is C1 to C4 linear alkyl, or C1 to C4 branched alkanediyl; X.sup.1, X.sup.2, X.sup.3 are independently O, S, or a group of formula (II) or (III) ##STR00002##
where R.sup.2 is C1 to C18 linear or branched alkyl; and Z is R.sup.3CHCHR.sup.4, where R.sup.3 is a covalent bond or C1 to C18 linear or branched alkanediyl, and R.sup.4 is a hydrogen or C1 to C18 linear or branched alkyl.

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a tyre, wherein the tyre comprises a metal component, a textile component and a cured rubber based component bonded together by means of curing, and wherein the cured rubber based component comprises lignin that has been treated by hydrothermal carbonization. The invention further relates to use of lignin that has been treated by hydrothermal carbonization in a rubber based component of a pneumatic tyre.

A resin-metal composite member for a tire comprises a metal member (27) and a coating resin layer (28) that covers the metal member (27) and contains a resin composition. The resin composition includes a thermoplastic elastomer, at least one additive resin selected from an amorphous resin having an ester bond or a polyester-based thermoplastic resin, and at least one chemical selected from a carbodiimide compound, a polyfunctional epoxy compound, or a polyfunctional amino compound.

A conjugated diene-based polymer of the present invention has an absolute molecular weight measured by viscosity detector-equipped GPC-light scattering measurement, of 4010.sup.4 or more and 500010.sup.4 or less, has a branching number (Bn) measured by the viscosity detector-equipped GPC-light scattering measurement, of 8 or more, and has a modification ratio of 60% by mass or more.

A tire includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) system and a rubber patch including a topping rubber topping the RFID system, wherein the topping rubber includes a raw material rubber and a reinforcing filler including a boron nitride. In the tire including a RFID system, since the RFID system is covered with a rubber similar to a nearby rubber, generation of a boundary therebetween is suppressed to lower a possibility of the occurrence of initial cracking at a portion where the RFID system is applied, thus increasing durability and safety, and since insulating properties of the rubber covering the RFID system are enhanced, a recognition distance of the RFID system is increased to further facilitate management of distribution and history.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel ethylene/-olefin/non-conjugated polyene copolymer containing a certain non-conjugated polyene such as VNB as a copolymerization component, having a low long-chain branching content, excellent in cure characteristics in the case of crosslinking by using peroxide, and having good processability. The ethylene/-olefin/non-conjugated polyene copolymer according to the present invention has constitutional units derived from ethylene (A), an -olefin (B) having 3 to 20 carbon atoms, and a non-conjugated polyene (C) having a total of two or more partial structures selected from the group consisting of the following general formulas (I) and (II) in a molecule, and satisfies certain requirements.

##STR00001##

A tire manufacturing method includes making a master batch, using the master batch to make a rubber composition, and making a green tire. The master batch is made wherein a carbon-black-containing pre-coagulation rubber latex is coagulated to obtain a coagulum; a compound according to Formula (I) is added to the water-containing coagulum; ##STR00001##
wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each indicates a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 20 carbons, an alkenyl group having 1 to 20 carbons, or an alkynyl group having 1 to 20 carbons, R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 may be the same or different, and M.sup.+ indicates sodium ion, potassium ion, or lithium ion; and the compound according to Formula (I) is dispersed within the coagulum. The green tire is provided with unvulcanized rubber sheeting made up of the rubber composition, chafer(s), carcass ply or plies, and bead filler(s).

The present technology provides a rubber composition having: from 30 to 50 parts by mass of carbon black having a nitrogen adsorption specific surface area of from 100 to 130 m.sup.2/g, from 25 to 40 parts by mass of carbon black having a nitrogen adsorption specific surface area of from 37 to 60 m.sup.2/g, from 1.5 to 2.2 parts by mass of sulfur as a pure sulfur content, and from 110 to 200 mass % of a sulfenamide-based vulcanization accelerator relative to the pure sulfur content compounded in 100 parts by mass of diene rubber containing from 30 to 60 parts by mass of isoprene rubber and from 40 to 70 parts by mass of butadiene rubber.

The invention provides a high-grip tire rubber composition satisfying wet grip performance, dry grip performance and steering stability in a high and well-balanced manner, and a tire tread, a bead filler, a tire belt and a pneumatic tire which each partially include the composition. The high-grip tire rubber composition includes 100 parts by mass of a solid rubber (A), the solid rubber (A) including not less than 60 mass % of a styrene butadiene rubber with 20 mass % or more styrene content, 0.1 to 90 parts by mass of a modified liquid diene rubber (B) having a functional group derived from a silane compound with a specific structure, and 20 to 150 parts by mass of a filler (C), the modified liquid diene rubber (B) satisfying the following (i) to (iii): (i) the weight average molecular weight (Mw) is not less than 1,000 and less than 15,000, (ii) the vinyl content is not more than 70 mol %, and (iii) the average number of the functional groups per molecule of the modified liquid diene rubber (B) is 1 to 20.

A vulcanizable composition for preparing bead filler, the composition comprising a vulcanized rubber; and a vinyl aromatic-containing block copolymer compound, where the vinyl aromatic-containing copolymer is defined by the formula II
d-Vo-D-V-II
where each V is independently a polyvinyl aromatic block, D is a polydiene block, w is a hydrogen atom, a functional group, or a polymeric segment or block, and where d is a polydiene block, and where the overall vinyl content of the block copolymer is greater than 65%.