TIRE WITH TREAD WITH OXIDIZED CARBON BLACK

Abstract

This invention relates to a tire with a tread of rubber composition with reinforcing filler containing oxidized rubber reinforcing carbon black together with tris (2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate. In one embodiment, the invention relates to a truck tire intended for heavy duty performance with a tread rubber composition comprised of natural cis 1,4-polyisoprene rubber containing reinforcing filler comprised of oxidized rubber reinforcing carbon black together with tris (2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate.

Claims

1. A pneumatic tire having a circumferential rubber tread of a rubber composition comprised of, based on parts by weight per 100 parts by weight elastomer (phr): (A) elastomer(s) comprised of: (1) at least one conjugated diene-based elastomer, comprised of: (a) about 0 to about 35 phr of cis 1,4-polyisoprene rubber, and (b) about 65 to about 100 phr of at least one additional diene-based elastomer, or (2) at least one conjugated diene-based elastomer, comprised of: (a) about 55 to about 100 phr of cis 1,4-polyisoprene natural rubber, and (b) about 0 to about 45 of at least one additional elastomer, (B) about 25 to about 125 phr of reinforcing filler comprised of about 55 to about 100 weight percent rubber reinforcing black comprised of from about 20 to about 100 weight percent surface oxidized carbon black, and (C) about 0.5 to about 20 phr of tris (2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate.

2. The tire of claim 1 wherein said oxidized carbon black is at least one of hydrogen peroxide or ozone treated rubber reinforcing carbon black.

3. The tire of claim 1 wherein said oxidized carbon black is a rubber reinforcing carbon black containing at least one of carboxyl and hydroxyl groups on its surface.

4. The tire of claim 1 wherein said additional diene-based elastomer is comprised of at least one of polybutadiene rubber, styrene/butadiene rubber, synthetic cis 1,4-polyisoprene rubber and 3,4-polyisoprene rubber.

5. The tire of claim 4 wherein said styrene/butadiene rubber is a functionalized styrene/butadiene rubber containing functional groups reactive with said carboxyl or hydroxyl groups on said oxidized carbon black.

6. The tire of claim 1 wherein said reinforcing filler contains about 10 to about 50 phr of precipitated silica together with silica coupler having a moiety reactive with hydroxyl groups on said precipitated silica and another different moiety interactive with said diene-based elastomers.

7. The tire of claim 6 wherein said silica coupler is comprised of: (A) bis(3-trialkoxysilylalkyl) polysulfide having an average of from 2 to about 4 connecting sulfur atoms in its polysulfidic bridge, or (B) alkoxyorganomercaptosilane.

8. The tire of claim 7 wherein said silica coupler is comprised of bis(3-triethoxysilylpropyl) polysulfide.

9. The tire of claim 7 wherein said coupler is comprised of alkoxyorganomercaptosilane.

10. The tire of claim 6 wherein said precipitated silica is a composite of said precipitated silica pre-reacted with said silica coupler.

11. The tire of claim 10 wherein said silica coupler is an alkoxyorganomercaptosilane.

12. The tire of claim 6 wherein said precipitated silica is a product of reaction of said precipitated silica and said silica coupler within said rubber composition.

13. The tire of claim 10 wherein said rubber composition contains additional precipitated silica and/or additional silica coupler.

14. The tire of claim 4 where said styrene/butadiene rubber of said additional rubber is tin or silicon coupled.

15. The rubber composition of claim 1 where said rubber composition is comprised of: (A) elastomer(s) comprised of at least one conjugated diene-based elastomer, comprised of: (1) about 55 to about 90 phr of cis 1,4-polyisoprene natural rubber, and (2) about 10 to about 45 of at least one additional elastomer, (B) about 25 to about 125 phr of reinforcing filler comprised of about 80 to about 100 weight percent rubber reinforcing black comprised of from about 35 to about 90 weight percent surface oxidized carbon black, and (C) about 1 to about 10 phr of said tris (2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0069] In FIG. 1, logimetric scaled curves of natural rubber compositions containing oxidized N234 carbon black and containing oxidized carbon black together with tris (2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate in terms of a stiffness indicator (storage modulus G kPa) according to ARES test, over a range of percent strain values are compared to such curve for a natural rubber composition containing N234 carbon black.

[0070] In FIG. 2, curves of natural rubber based rubber compositions containing oxidized N234 carbon black and containing oxidized carbon black together with tris (2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate in a sense of a hysteresis indicator in terms of its tangent delta (tan delta) physical property over a wide range of percent strain values are compared to such curve for a natural rubber composition containing N234 carbon black.

THE DRAWINGS

[0071] It is seen from FIG. 1 that an inclusion of the oxidized carbon black in the rubber composition significantly reduced the stiffness indicator (storage modulus G) for the rubber composition over a wide range of strain values, including a strain value of 10 percent.

[0072] It is also seen from FIG. 1, that an inclusion of tris (2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate with the oxidized carbon black also significantly decreased the stiffness indicator (storage modulus G) for the rubber composition over a wide range of strain values, including a strain value of 10 percent, but decreased to a lesser degree than for the use of oxidized carbon black without the inclusion of triphenyl phosphate.

[0073] It is seen from FIG. 2 that an inclusion of the oxidized carbon black significantly and beneficially reduced the tan delta property (beneficially reduced the predictive hysteresis indicator property) for the rubber composition over a wide range of strain values, including a strain value of 10 percent.

[0074] The discovery is seen in FIG. 2 that an inclusion of the tris (2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate with the oxidized carbon black further beneficially further improved (reduced) the tan delta (reduced the hysteresis indicator property) for the rubber composition over a wide range of strain value, with the tan delta values being lower at a strain value of 10 percent when compared with the oxidized carbon black without the tris (2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate.

[0075] From a visual inspection of the graphical plots of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, it is therefore concluded that the addition of the tris (2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate to the oxidized carbon black containing rubber composition provided a slight improvement in desired stiffness indicator of the cured rubber over a broad strain range while further reducing the hysteresis indicator obtained for the cured rubber composition when using oxidized carbon black as a replacement for conventional untreated carbon black reinforcement for the rubber composition.

[0076] While certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.