A Thermally Stable Tire Sealant

Abstract

A tire sealant composition for use in tubeless tires is disclosed. The tire sealant composition primarily serves to seal the tire around the wheel rim and particularly in the tread area of the tire against punctures. The composition includes polymeric material, carrier fluid and particulate system. The tire sealant composition is flowable, non-toxic, non-corrosive and thermally stable.

Claims

1. A tire sealant composition for lining an inner surface of a tire comprising a polymeric material, a carrier fluid and particulate blocking agent.

2. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the particulate blocking agent comprises glass beads.

3. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the particulate blocking agent comprises glass microspheres.

4. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 3, wherein the glass microspheres are hollow.

5. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polymeric material is optionally a siloxane.

6. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 5, wherein the siloxane is preferably polydimethylsiloxane and its analogues.

7. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carrier fluid may preferably be silicone oil.

8. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the particulate blocking agent may at least be about 5% of tire sealant composition.

9. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least about 50% of the particulate blocking agent comprises of glass beads.

10. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 2, wherein the glass beads may preferably be in an amount from about 60% to about 80% of the particulate blocking agent.

11. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 2, wherein the glass beads may ideally be in an amount of about 75% of the particulate blocking agent.

12. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 2, wherein size of the glass beads may preferably be about 100 μm.

13. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 4, wherein size of the hollow glass microspheres may preferably be from about 5 μm to about 25 μm.

14. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 6, wherein the polymeric material may preferably be in an amount from about 10% to about 30% by volume of the sealant.

15. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 7, wherein the carrier fluid may preferably be in an amount from about 60% to about 80% by volume of the sealant.

16. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 7, wherein viscosity of silicon oil may preferably be about 1000 cP.

17. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sealant may be flowable.

18. The tire sealant composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sealant may be thermally stable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0035] The following description is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.

[0036] Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

[0037] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0038] It is to be understood that the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0039] By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

[0040] Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

[0041] It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or component but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

[0042] The subject invention lies in providing a thermally stable tire sealant.

[0043] In the present invention, a flowable sealant composition for lining the inner surface of a tire for puncture repair comprising a polymeric material, a particulate blocking agent and carrier fluid is disclosed. The blocking agent includes hollow glass microspheres and glass beads. The polymeric material used is cross-linked polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with different degrees of cross-linking. The composition does not contain any anti-freezing agent since the silicone oil and the cross-linked PDMS works well in the temperature range of −40° C. to 150° C.

[0044] In one implementation, a tire sealant that may be easily introduced inside the tire via a nozzle without clogging is provided for.

[0045] In one implementation, long term sealing in the event of a puncture is provided for so that long distances may be covered without significant air loss.

[0046] In one implementation, the sealing effect may not be based on the drying of a volatile solvent thereby ensuring efficacy of the sealant for long durations and over a wide range of temperatures.

[0047] In one implementation, a tire sealant composition for lining an inner surface of a tire comprising a polymeric material, a carrier fluid and particulate blocking agent is provided for.

[0048] In one implementation, the particulate blocking agent comprises of glass beads and glass microspheres where the glass microspheres are hollow are provided for.

[0049] In one implementation, the polymeric material is siloxane and preferably polydimethylsiloxane and its analogues is provided for.

[0050] In one implementation, the carrier fluid is preferably silicone oil whose viscosity is about 1000 cP is provided for.

[0051] In one implementation, the particulate blocking agent is at least about 5% of tire sealant composition is provided for.

[0052] In one implementation, at least about 50% of the particulate blocking agent may be glass beads are provided for.

[0053] In one implementation, the glass beads are preferably present in an amount from about 60% to about 80% of the particulate blocking agent is provided for.

[0054] In one implementation, the glass beads may ideally be about 75% of the particulate blocking agent is provided for.

[0055] In one implementation, the size of the glass beads may preferably be about 100 μm and the size of the hollow glass microspheres may preferably be from about 5 μm to about 25 μm is provided for.

[0056] In one implementation, the polymeric material is preferably in an amount from about 10% to about 30% by volume of the sealant is provided for.

[0057] In one implementation, the carrier fluid is preferably in an amount from about 60% to about 80% by volume of the sealant is provided for.

[0058] The tire sealant composition may be easily introduced inside the tire via a nozzle without clogging to ensure long term sealing in the event of a puncture, so that long distances may be covered without significant air loss. Moreover, as the sealing effect is not based on the drying of a volatile solvent, it ensures efficacy of the sealant for long durations and over a wide range of temperatures.

[0059] The present invention discloses a tire sealant composition for lining an inner surface of a tire. It comprises of a polymeric material, a carrier fluid and particulate blocking agent where the particulate blocking agent are glass beads and hollow glass microspheres, the polymeric material is siloxane and the carrier fluid is preferably silicone oil.

[0060] In particular, the particulate blocking agent is at least about 5% of tire sealant composition where at least 50% of the particulate blocking agent is glass beads. The glass beads are preferably present in an amount from about 60% to about 80% of the particulate blocking agent. In fact, the glass beads may ideally be about 75% of the particulate blocking agent. The size of the glass beads may preferably be about 100 μm and the size of the hollow glass microspheres may preferably be from about 5 μm to about 25 μm.

[0061] The polymeric material is present preferably in an amount from about 10% to about 30% by volume of the sealant. The siloxane should preferably be polydimethylsiloxane PDMS with different degrees of crosslinking.

[0062] The carrier fluid is present preferably in an amount from about 60% to about 80% by volume of the sealant. The viscosity of the silicone oil is about 1000 cP.

[0063] The tire sealant composition is formulated by mixing together the following components manually.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Listing the components used in the tire sealant with their % by volume. Components Percentage by volume Blocking agent (Hollow glass microspheres) 5 Blocking agent (Glass beads) 5 Polymeric material (PDMS) 22.5 Carrier Fluid (Silicone oil) 67.5

[0064] A small volume of the sealant (about 5 ml) was introduced into a specially designed high pressure cell, which was subsequently pressurised to 32 psi and left overnight to make sure there is no air leakage. The aforementioned pressure corresponds to the pressure inside a car tire. After ensuring that there was no significant leak in the cell, nails of diameters ranging from 3 mm to 9 mm were pierced into tire-end of the cell and immediately removed. The cell is left undisturbed for more than 24 hours to observe for pressure loss. The present invention may seal puncture holes up to a diameter of 8 mm.

[0065] The disclosed tire sealant composition uses non-toxic chemical to provide an effective and permanent puncture sealing composition. It will not dry out as it does not contain any volatile component and also not corrode the metallic rim of the wheel as it does not contain any oxidising agent or chemical groups.

[0066] Although a comparatively simple, nontoxic, non-volatile, noncorrosive, effective and permanent tire puncture sealing composition has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methods, it is to be understood that the embodiments disclosed in the above section are not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods or devices described. Rather, the specific features are disclosed as examples of implementations of a thermally stable tire sealant.