A M+N STEEL CORD FOR REINFORCING RUBBER PRODUCT

Abstract

A steel cord for rubber reinforcement comprises a first group of core filaments (105) having a number of m and a second group of sheath filaments (110) having a number of n, m is three or four, the core filaments (105) are forming a helix, the core filaments (105) are not twisted together and being substantially parallel or the core filaments (105) have a twist pitch being more than 300 mm; the second group and the first group are twisted with each other, and the sheath filaments (110) are forming a flattened helix in the same direction of the helix of the core filaments (105), and the sheath filaments (110) have a cord twist pitch, at any cross-section of the steel cord, at least one interstice between two adjacent core filaments (105) is present. The steel cord has improved abrasion resistance and can contribute to the reduction of the weight of the tire.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A steel cord for rubber reinforcement, said steel cord comprising a first group of core filaments having a number of m core filaments and a second group of sheath filaments having a number of n sheath filaments, said m being three or four, said core filaments being forming a helix, wherein said core filaments being not twisted together and being substantially parallel or having a twist pitch of more than 300 mm, said second group and said first group being twisted with each other, and said sheath filaments being forming a flattened helix in the same direction of said helix of said core filaments, said sheath filaments having a cord twist pitch, wherein, at any cross-section of said steel cord, at least one interstice between two adjacent core filaments is present.

17. A steel cord as claimed in claim 16, wherein said interstice is measured by the shortest distance L between said adjacent two core filaments, L being greater than 0 mm and smaller or equal to 0.1 mm.

18. A steel cord as claimed in claim 17, wherein said L satisfies: 0.005 mm<L0.08 mm.

19. A steel cord as claimed in claim 16, wherein the number of said interstices is m1.

20. A steel cord as claimed in claim 16, wherein said n is ranging from two to seven when said m is three, or said n is ranging from two to eight when said m is four.

21. A steel cord as claimed in claim 16, wherein said cord twist pitch is ranging from 8 to 20 mm.

22. A steel cord as claimed in claim 16, wherein said core filaments are pre-formed before being twisted with said sheath filaments.

23. A steel cord as claimed in claim 16, wherein said core filaments are arranged in a substantially parallel, meaning when drawing a straight line between the central points of the left core filament and the right core filament in a cross-section, the shortest distance between the central points of each remaining core filament and said straight line is less than 0.5 times the diameter of said core filament.

24. A steel cord as claimed in claim 16, wherein at least one crossing from one of said core filaments against the remaining core filaments is present along the length of said steel cord, and the number of said crossings is less than 20 within 100 said cord twist pitches.

25. A steel cord as claimed in claim 24, wherein, the number of said crossings is less than 10 or even less than 5 within 100 said cord twist pitches.

26. A method of making a steel cord as claimed in claim 16, comprises the following steps: i) providing a first group of core filaments and a second group of sheath filaments; ii) giving a twist to said first group; iii) twisting said second group with said first group in a twisting direction opposite to said twist to said first group, thereby to form a m+n steel strand with substantially round cross-section, the core filaments being untwisted with each other or having a twist pitch being more than 300 mm and the sheath filaments have a cord twist pitch; iv) flattening said steel strand by rollers to form said steel cord.

27. A method of making a steel cord as claimed in claim 26, wherein said core filaments are preformed before step i).

28. A method of making a steel cord as claimed in claim 26, wherein said core filaments are uniformly separated between step i) and step ii).

29. A use of a steel cord as claimed in claim 16 for reinforcing tire.

30. A tire, wherein the belt layer of said tire is reinforced by steel cords as claimed in claim 16.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES IN THE DRAWINGS

[0038] FIG. 1 describes a steel cord according to the invention.

[0039] FIG. 2 describes a steel cord according to the invention.

[0040] FIG. 3 describe an apparatus for manufacturing the steel cord according to the invention.

[0041] FIG. 4 describe the crossing phenomenon of the steel cord according to the invention.

MODE(S) FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0042] The steel filament for steel cord is made from a wire rod.

[0043] The wire rod is firstly cleaned by mechanical descaling and/or by chemical pickling in a H.sub.2SO.sub.4 or HCl solution in order to remove the oxides present on the surface. The wire rod is then rinsed in water and is dried. The dried wire rod is then subjected to a first series of dry drawing operations in order to reduce the diameter until a first intermediate diameter.

[0044] At this first intermediate diameter d1, e.g. at about 3.0 to 3.5 mm, the dry drawn steel wire is subjected to a first intermediate heat treatment, called patenting. Patenting means first austenitizing until a temperature of about 1000 C. followed by a transformation phase from austenite to pearlite at a temperature of about 600-650 C. The steel wire is then ready for further mechanical deformation.

[0045] Thereafter the steel wire is further dry drawn from the first intermediate diameter d1 until a second intermediate diameter d2 in a second number of diameter reduction steps. The second diameter d2 typically ranges from 1.0 mm to 2.5 mm.

[0046] At this second intermediate diameter d2, the steel wire is subjected to a second patenting treatment, i.e. austenitizing again at a temperature of about 1000 C. and thereafter quenching at a temperature of 600 to 650 C. to allow for transformation to pearlite.

[0047] If the total reduction in the first and second dry drawing step is not too big a direct drawing operation can be done from wire rod till diameter d2.

[0048] After this second patenting treatment the steel wire is usually provided with a brass coating: copper is plated on the steel wire and zinc is plated on the copper. A thermo-diffusion treatment is applied to form the brass coating.

[0049] The brass-coated steel wire is then subjected to a final series of cross-section reductions by means of wet drawing machines. The final product is a steel filament with a carbon content above 0.60 percent by weight, e.g. higher than 0.70 percent by weight, or higher than 0.80 percent by weight, or even higher than 0.90 percent by weight, with a tensile strength typically above 2000 MPa, e.g. above 4080-2000d MPa or above 4400-2000d MPa (d is the diameter of the steel filament) and adapted for the reinforcement of elastomer products.

[0050] Steel filaments adapted for the reinforcement of tyres typically have filaments with a final diameter ranging from 0.05 mm to 0.60 mm, e.g. from 0.10 mm to 0.40 mm. Examples of filament diameters are 0.10 mm, 0.12 mm, 0.15 mm, 0.175 mm, 0.18 mm, 0.20 mm, 0.22 mm, 0.245 mm, 0.28 mm, 0.30 mm, 0.32 mm, 0.35 mm, 0.38 mm, 0.40 mm.

[0051] Then the steel filaments are subjected to a process to form a steel cord.

[0052] FIG. 3 shows an apparatus for making a steel cord from steel filaments. The apparatus comprises a rotating part and fixed parts. The rotating part is rotating in the same sense and at the same angular speed around the axis A-A. The rotating part is located in a cradle which is not shown in FIG. 3 but well known in the art. The fixed parts are other parts besides the rotating part. The rotating part includes the guiding wheels 335, 340, 345, 350, rotating strand guides 355, 360 and a bundling die 365. Inside the rotating part, a number of bobbin holders (not shown) with the respective bobbins 320 are provides, the number of the bobbins 320 inside the rotating part is the same as the number of the sheath filaments. Outside the rotating part, the apparatus comprises a number of bobbin holders (not shown) with the respective bobbins 305 (the number of the bobbins 305 is the same as the number of the core filaments), a serious of rollers 325 and a take-up reel 330. Preferably the apparatus further comprises a number of preforming devices 310, a filament distribution disk 315 and a compressing die 370.

[0053] The core filaments (three core filaments as an example) paid-off from the bobbins 305 are guided into the rotating part. Preferably, before entering into the rotating part, the core filaments are guided through the preforming devices 310 to obtain a preforming operation, and/or then through the distribution disk 315 and the compressing die 370 to be distributed uniformly and moulded in a stable distribution form, for example substantially regular triangle form. Then the core filaments are guided through the guiding wheel 335 and further over the rotating strand guide 355 towards the guiding wheel 345, thereafter the core filaments are twisted together in a S-direction and with a twice cord twist pitch. Over the guiding wheel 345, the going direction of the core filaments is reversed, to be towards the guiding wheel 340. The core filaments then are guided through the bundling die 365, in the bundling die 365 the core filaments receive the sheath filaments (four sheath filaments as an example) which are paid-off from the bobbins 320, thereby to form a strand with substantially round cross-section. The strand comprising core filaments and sheath filaments is guided over the guiding wheel 340 and is reversed its going direction. The core filaments leaving the guiding wheel 340 still have a twist in S-direction and a same twice cord twist pitch, for example 16 mm. The sheath filaments have a twist in Z-direction and a twice cord twist pitch. The strand leaving the guiding wheel 340 comprises the core filaments twisted in the S-direction and the sheath filaments twisted in the Z-direction, and it further is guided over the rotating strand guide 360 and guide wheel 350 towards the series of rollers 325, thereafter, the core filaments are untwisted and are in substantially parallel or the core filaments have a twist pitch being more than 300 mm, the sheath filaments are twisted in Z-direction with a cord twist pitch, for example 8 mm. The strand leaving the guide wheel 350 is flattened by the series of rollers 325, thereafter, the cross-section of the strand is no longer substantially round but mostly looks like a flat or oval shape, thereafter, a steel cord of the present invention is formed. Finally, the steel cord is wound on the take-up reel 330.

[0054] FIG. 1 shows the steel cord according to the invention, including the front view and the cross-sectional view. The steel cord 100 comprises three core filaments 105 and four sheath filaments 110. By detecting the cross-section of the different place along the length of the steel cord 100, it is clear that the adjacent two of core filaments 105 have interstice in between, and the core filaments 105 are substantially parallel and in a substantially straight line. FIG. 2 shows the method of measuring the shortest distance L between the adjacent two core filaments 105: the shortest distance L being the shortest distance between the surface of the two adjacent core filaments 105 is 0.04 mm; and the method of measuring whether the core filaments 105 are substantially parallel and in a substantially straight line: draw a straight line B-B between the central points of two core filaments 105 located in two sides at one cross-section of the steel cord, the shortest distance H between the central points of the rest core filament 105 and the straight line B-B is 0.08 mm when the diameter of the core filament 105 is 0.23 mm.

[0055] FIG. 4 shows the crossing phenomenon. Along the length of the steel cord 400, one core filament 415 changes its location and goes cross the remaining core filaments 405, 410. As a result, the sequence of the arrangement of the core filaments 405, 410, 415 is changed, from the top-down direction of the cross-section of the core filaments, 415-405-410 is changed to be 405-410-415.

[0056] Another embodiment of the present invention is 4+3. The steel filaments of the steel cord have a diameter of 0.35 mm. The interstice between the core filaments is less than 0.08 mm. The rubber penetration of the steel cord is 100% (by air drop test).

[0057] A third embodiment of the present invention is 4+5. The steel filaments of the steel cord have a diameter of 0.35 mm. The interstice between the core filaments is less than 0.07 mm. The rubber penetration of the steel cord is 100%.

[0058] A fourth embodiment of the present invention is 3+2. The core filaments of the steel cord have a diameter of 0.18 mm, and the sheath filaments of the steel cord have a diameter of 0.30 mm. The interstice between the core filaments is 0.05 mm. The rubber penetration of the steel cord is 100%.

[0059] Some other embodiments are 3+2 steel cord, wherein the core filaments and the sheath filaments have a diameter of 0.23 mm, 0.28 mm or 0.30 mm; or 3+5 steel cord, wherein the core filaments and the sheath filaments have a diameter of 0.32 mm; or 3+5 steel cord, wherein the core filaments have a diameter of 0.35 mm and the sheath filaments have a diameter of 0.32 mm. All of the steel cords above have at least one interstice presenting between two adjacent core filaments, and have a rubber penetration being 100%.

[0060] FIG. 5 illustrates the alignment of the core filaments at some cross-sections within an axial length of one twist. It is clear that the alignments of the core filaments 105 at all cross-sections are substantially parallel with each other, and the core filaments 105 are not twisted with each other. The core filaments 105 are forming a helix, and the sheath filaments 110 are twisted with the core filaments 105 and thereby forming a flattened helix in the same direction of the helix of the core filaments 105.