This invention reveals a pneumatic tire comprising a generally toroidal-shaped carcass with an outer circumferential tread, two spaced beads, at least one ply extending from bead to bead and sidewalls extending radially from and connecting said tread to said beads, and an innerliner which covers the inner surface and which is comprised of a halobutyl rubber, a filler and lignin. The incorporation of lignin into the innerliner prevents migration of moisture into the tire carcass which can lead to corrosion and consequential delamination of steel cords within the tire. Normally the lignin will be included in such innerliner formulations in an amount which is within the range of 1 phr to 20 phr. Lignin can also be used to protect the steel belts by incorporating it into other tire components located between the innerliner and the belts.

A composite based at least on a component having a metallic surface and on a polymer matrix comprising a diene elastomer DE and a functional diene polymer is provided. The functional diene polymer is a diene polymer bearing at least one functional group, the functional group being the phosphonic acid functional group, the phosphonic hemiacid functional group, the phosphonic acid diester functional group or a salt of the phosphonic acid or phosphonic hemiacid functional group. Such a composite exhibits good resistance to tearing-out.

A composite comprises at least one reinforcing element exhibiting a surface comprising an alloy of copper and zinc, the reinforcing element being embedded in an elastomeric composition based on at least a diene elastomer, a reinforcing filler, a sulfur crosslinking system and a phenol/aldehyde resin based on at least one aromatic polyphenol and on at least one dialdehyde compound comprising two aldehyde functions, in which the content of phenol/aldehyde resin is less than 10 phr.

A reinforced product (21) comprises: an elastomer matrix (23), several reinforcing elements (44) embedded in the elastomer matrix (23), the reinforcing elements (44) being arranged side by side in a main direction (X1). Each reinforcing element (44) comprises: at least one filamentary element, and at least one sheath coating the filamentary element and comprising at least one layer of a thermoplastic polymer composition. The ratio R1=ODO/E of the mean minimum thickness ODO of elastomer present on the back of the sheath to the mean thickness E of the reinforced product (21) is less than or equal to 0.17.

A reinforcement means for molded and extruded articles such as tires has a metal structure with a layer of silica gel bonded thereto. The silica gel bonds the reinforcement means to the rubber compound during the molding/vulcanization of the rubber compound without the need for a slow curing stage. The silica gel may be applied to the metal structure by a sol-gel process with the gel formed by drying the sol at a temperature up to 150 C. The reinforcement means is preferably a cable formed from steel wires coated with the silica gel. To further improve bonding of the silica gel to the rubber compound, an organosilane bonding agent may be included in the rubber compound or the reinforcing means provided with a second layer comprising an organosilane as a bonding agent. The reinforcement means are particularly useful for strengthening and providing geometric stability to tires.

A method for making rubber portions comprising tyre metallic reinforcing plies. This method comprises an incorporation step wherein metallic cords which constitute the plies are arranged between two skim layers and a treatment step for the metallic cords, that precedes the incorporation step and wherein the metallic cords are wetted with a diene elastomeric polymer with a viscosity of between 3 and 10 Pa.Math.s at room temperature.

A belt for tyres comprising a ply made up of metal cords and two layers of tread ply skim arranged to cover the ply. The ply is coated with a protective composition comprising at least one cross-linkable unsaturated-chain polymer base and a surface-active compound. The protective composition is derived from an aqueous-based suspension applied to said ply. The tread ply skim comprises the same cross-linkable unsaturated-chain polymer base present within the protective composition.

Provided is a tire that is lightweight and excellent in riding characteristics while suppressing an increase in cost.

A plurality of belt layers 7 are superimposed in a radial direction. The belt layers 7 include a plurality of steel cords 10 arranged in parallel in a row and rubber 11. The steel cords 10 have a 14 structure in which four filaments 20 are twisted, and when a center-to-center distance between the steel cords 10 in at least two of the belt layers 7 adjacent in the radial direction is T, and an average diameter of virtual circumscribed circles of the steel cords 10 having the 14 structure is D, 1.25T/D2.25.

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 pneumatic vehicle tire with a belt assembly with at least one belt ply reinforced with steel cords embedded in rubber material. The steel cords each having the same number of steel filaments, are arranged parallel to one another and at at least substantially equal distances apart within each belt ply, have rubber coating layers on both sides, the layer thicknesses of which in total are 0.10 mm to 2.00 mm, when viewed in cross section are flattened open steel cords composed of four to six steel filaments periodically twisted together, at least two of which, when viewed in cross section, are flat-deformed, have a first larger diameter and a second smaller diameter perpendicular thereto, the ratio of which is between 1.10 and 3.00, and are embedded in the belt ply with their first, larger diameter lying largely flat and are at largely equal clear distances from one another, which are 0.10 mm to 1.00 mm.