A steel filament for twisting into a steel cord for the reinforcement of rubber articles, which contains a steel substrate that is coated with a coating comprising brass. The coating is different in that the amount of iron at the surface is distinctively higher than that prior steel filaments. The coating has an average iron content of 4 or more atomic percent compared to the total of iron, zinc and copper atoms in the layer extending from the surface to a depth of 3 nanometer below the surface. The steel filaments show an improved adhesion retention under hot and humid conditions and in organic cobalt compound containing rubbers as well as rubbers that are substantially free of cobalt. The lifetime of the rubber article is extended.

The present invention relates to an adhesive composition comprising: at least one phosphate salt chosen from sodium phosphate, potassium phosphate and mixtures of these phosphates; and at least one resin based on: at least one compound A1, compound A1 being chosen from a compound A11 comprising at least two functions, one of these functions being a hydroxymethyl function and the other being an aldehyde function or a hydroxymethyl function, or a compound A12 comprising at least one aldehyde function, or a mixture of a compound A11 and of a compound A12; and at least one phenol A21.

A coated wire includes a steel alloy coated with a coating comprising one or more amino alkoxy-modified silsesquioxane compounds selected from the group consisting of an amino alkoxy-modified silsesquioxane, an amino/mercaptan co-alkoxy-modified silsesquioxane, an amino/blocked mercaptan co-alkoxy-modified silsesquioxane, or a salt of one or more thereof. A rubber composition and a process for coating wire is also disclosed.

Provided is a steel cord for rubber article reinforcement which has excellent corrosion resistance and productivity without deterioration of adhesion with rubber. A steel cord (1) for rubber article reinforcement, in which plural steel filaments (2) are twisted together, includes: a core having at least one core filament (2c); and a sheath having at least one sheath layer formed by twisting at least one sheath filament (2s) around the core. In this steel cord (1), brass plating is performed on the steel filaments (2) and zinc plating is further performed on the outer circumference of the brass plating of the core filament (2c), and the steel filaments (2) have a diameter d of 0.1 mm to 0.6 mm.

A composite reinforcer that can adhere directly to a diene rubber matrix is usable as a reinforcing element for a pneumatic tire. The composite reinforcer includes at least one reinforcing thread, such as a carbon steel cord. Covering each thread individually or several threads collectively is a layer of a thermoplastic polymer composition. The thermoplastic polymer composition includes at least one thermoplastic polymer have a glass transition temperature that is positive, a poly(p-phenylene ether) (PPE), and a functionalized unsaturated thermoplastic styrene (TPS) elastomer having a glass transition temperature that is negative. The TPS elastomer includes a functional group selected from: an epoxide group, a carboxyl group, an acid anhydride group, and an ester group. A process for manufacturing such a composite reinforcer is presented, as well as a process for producing a rubber article, especially a pneumatic tire, incorporating such a composite reinforcer.

A rubber-reinforcing cord (10) includes a first fiber strand (11) and a plurality of second fiber strands (12) disposed around the first fiber strand (11). The second fiber strand (12) has a tensile elastic modulus higher by 20 GPa or more than that of the first fiber strand (11).

At least a metallic part of a metal or metallized reinforcer, at least the surface of which is at least partially metallic, is coated with a polybenzoxazine, the repeat units of which comprise at least one unit corresponding to the formulae (I) or (II): ##STR00001##
in which Z.sub.1 represents an at least divalent, aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic bonding group comprising at least one carbon atom and optionally at least one heteroatom selected from O, S, N and P; X.sub.1 and X.sub.2, which are identical or different, represent O or S; Ar.sub.1 and Ar.sub.2, which are identical or different, represent a substituted or unsubstituted phenylene group; and Z.sub.2 represents O or (S).sub.n, the symbol “n” representing an integer equal to 1 or greater than 1. Such a reinforcement can be used for the reinforcement of a rubber article, in particular a motor vehicle tyre.

The steel wire for the steel cord of the present invention includes a plating layer of Cu-M-Zn (M is one or two elements of Co, Ni, Cr, Mo, Al, In, or Sn) and has a concentration gradient in which the M content ratio in a region from the surface to ¼ of the plating layer is 40% or more compared with the M content ratio in the entire region of the plating layer, and the steel cord for rubber reinforcement is obtained by a manufacturing method comprising: performing sequential plating on a surface of a steel wire in the order of Cu.fwdarw.M.fwdarw.Zn; performing a primary diffusion, for concentration gradient of M, by subjecting the sequentially plated steel wire to high-frequency induction heating using 1-500 MHz; and performing a secondary diffusion, following the primary diffusion, by medium-frequency induction heating using 10-500 KHz.

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.

The present invention provides a metal cord having better adhesion to rubber compared to a conventional one, as well as a metal cord-rubber composite and a conveyor belt, including the same. In a metal cord (10) composed of a plurality of metal filaments (11) twisted together, the surfaces of the metal filaments (11) constituting the outermost layer are each provided with a zinc plating layer (16), and the degrees of crystal orientation of the (002) plane and the (102) plane of the surface of the zinc plating layer (16) are less than 120.