A tire having reduced mass and low rolling resistance and a method of manufacture thereof achieves reduced weight by using thin layers of thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU's) to heat seal the carcass, breaker, and tread layers of the tire to each other, rather than embedding the layers in conventional, relatively thicker and heavier layers of sulfur cured vulcanized carbon filled elastomers. Creep and spring-back of the thermoplastic polyurethanes during cure is avoided by maintaining the adhered layers under pressure until the assembly cools below its glass transition temperature. In embodiments, the heat sealing can be performed on the forming drum, and in some embodiments cool rollers are applied to the heat-sealed carcass so as to accelerate the cooling to below the glass transition temperature.

A pneumatic tire includes a tread, side walls, beads, a carcass, a belt layer, an inner-liner layer, and a sealant layer. The inner-side surface of the inner-liner layer to which the sealant layer is adhered has profile that satisfies L1<L2<L3, L15 mm, L29.5 mm, and L311 mm, where L1, L2 and L3 represent heights in a radial direction measured from a base height point to the inner-side surface of the inner-liner layer at positions located in an axially inward direction from an axial outer edge of the belt layer by 5%, 10% and 15% of a maximum width of the belt layer, and the base height point is a point on an axial-direction line through the intersection where a radial-direction line passing through the axial outer edge of the belt layer intersects the inner-side surface of the inner-liner layer.

A pneumatic tire is formed by winding a sheet member (A) and a sheet member (B) onto a molding drum and molding a cylindrical body. A laminate body (M) in which the sheet member (B) is layered in advance on the outer periphery of the sheet member (A) is wound onto a molding drum (10), the tack value of a material (a) constituting the sheet member (A) being smaller than the tack value of a material (b) constituting the sheet member (B), the length of the sheet member (A) being configured so that a starting end (As) of winding on the molding drum (10) and an ending end (Ae) of winding do not overlap, and the length of the sheet member (B) being configured so that the ending end (Be) of winding extends longer in the circumferential direction than the ending end (Ae) of winding of the sheet member (A).

In a method for manufacturing a pneumatic tire, a laminated body is formed of a film containing a thermoplastic resin or elastomer, and rubber sheets laminated on surfaces of the film. A winding starting end of the inner rubber sheet is on a side opposite to a winding direction of the laminated body with respect to an end of the film; an end of the outer rubber sheet at the winding starting end is at the same position as the end of the film or is positioned on a side of the winding direction of the laminated body with respect to the end of the film. An outer surface of the outer rubber sheet at the winding starting end and an inner surface of the inner rubber sheet of a winding finishing end are brought into contact by overlapping and bonding the winding starting end and the winding finishing end.

Provide is a pneumatic tire that is excellent in air retention properties and adhesion at the interface between the innerliner and the insulation, particularly in the joint portion. Included is a pneumatic tire including: a carcass; an insulation adjacent to the radially inner side of the carcass; and an innerliner adjacent to the radially inner side of the insulation, the innerliner including an innerliner rubber composition, the innerliner rubber composition containing a polymer component including, based on 100% by mass thereof, 80 to 100% by mass of a butyl-based rubber and containing, per 100 parts by mass of the polymer component, 40 to 70 parts by mass of carbon black, 0.5 to 5.0 parts by mass of zinc oxide, and 0.2 to 5.0 parts by mass of sulfur, the insulation including an insulation rubber composition, the insulation rubber composition containing a polymer component including, based on 100% by mass thereof, 20 to 90% by mass of a butyl-based rubber and 10 to 80% by mass of an isoprene-based rubber and containing, per 100 parts by mass of the polymer component, 40 to 80 parts by mass of carbon black and 0.2 to 5.0 parts by mass of sulfur, the innerliner and insulation rubber compositions having butyl-based rubber contents based on 100% by mass of the polymer component that satisfy the following relationship: (Butyl-based rubber content of innerliner rubber composition) (Butyl-based rubber content of insulation rubber composition).

A pneumatic tire includes film layers of thermoplastic resin or thermoplastic elastomer composition made by blending an elastomer with the thermoplastic resin, which are superposed by winding the film layer in the circumferential direction of the tire multiple times, a thickness of the film layer is in a range of 0.02 mm to 0.2 mm and a thickness of the rubber layer is in a range of 0.1 mm to 1.2 mm, and the tire wherein a rubber film is interposed between the film layers. The pneumatic tire is produced by preparing a laminated body in which the rubber layer is stuck to at least one surface of the film layer; interposing the rubber layer between the film layers by winding the laminated body in the circumferential direction of the tire multiple times; forming an uncured tire which includes the film layers and the rubber layers; and curing the tire.

A tire having reduced mass and low rolling resistance and a method of manufacture thereof achieves reduced weight by using thin layers of thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU's) to heat seal the carcass, breaker, and tread layers of the tire to each other, rather than embedding the layers in conventional, relatively thicker and heavier layers of sulfur cured vulcanized carbon filled elastomers. Creep and spring-back of the thermoplastic polyurethanes during cure is avoided by maintaining the adhered layers under pressure until the assembly cools below its glass transition temperature. In embodiments, the heat sealing can be performed on the forming drum, and in some embodiments cool rollers are applied to the heat-sealed carcass so as to accelerate the cooling to below the glass transition temperature.

The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire comprising: a tread; one pair of shoulders respectively continued to both sides of the tread with the tread part as a center; one pair of sidewalls respectively continued to the shoulders; one pair of beads respectively continued to the sidewalls; a body ply formed on the inner sides of the tread, shoulders, sidewalls and beads; a belt and a cap ply part sequentially stacked between the inner side of the tread and the body ply; and an inner liner bonded to the inner side of the body ply, wherein in the inner liner, a sheet including a rubber component is positioned at the part of the body ply corresponding to the shoulders and the sidewalls, and a polymer film including a polyamide-based component is positioned at the part of the body ply corresponding to the tread.

A pneumatic tire includes an inner liner layer formed from a laminate sheet obtained by laminating: a sheet made from a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic resin composition which is a blend of the thermoplastic resin and an elastomer; and a rubber bonded by curing to the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic resin composition. The pneumatic tire avoids occurrence of cracks near a splice portion of the inner liner layer after the pneumatic tire starts to be used for driving, and thereby achieves excellent durability. In the tire, an inner liner layer is formed by lap-splicing end portions of a laminate sheet which is obtained by the laminating A sheet with end portions each having a tip subjected to a tip sharpening process is used as the sheet made from the thermoplastic resin or the thermoplastic resin composition which is the blend of the thermoplastic resin and the elastomer.

A strip of a thermoplastic elastomer to be wound spirally on a cylindrical drum for forming an inner liner for a tire having a shape close to a finished sectional shape is provided. The strip is formed of composite layers of (A) a first layer made of a styrene-isobutylene-styrene triblock copolymer and (B) a second layer containing at least one of a styrene-isoprene-styrene triblock copolymer and a styrene-isobutylene diblock copolymer. The strip further has a strip main body and ear portions arranged on opposite sides thereof. The strip main body has a thickness (T1) of 0.05 mm to 1.0 mm. The ear portions have a thickness (T2) thinner than the thickness (T1) of the strip main body and a width (W2) of 0.5 mm to 5.0 mm. This ribbon-shaped strip reduces unevenness of the surface of a sheet formed by the opposite ends of the strip when manufacturing an inner liner.