Tire cord fabric

Abstract

A tire cord fabric having paired cords used as warps. The fabric is suitable for use in pneumatic tires as carcass and cap ply reinforcement, enabling the use of less rubber and higher cord content in a specified cord-rubber composite volume.

Claims

1. A tire cord fabric for use as cap ply on the top of the belt layers of a passenger vehicle tire as wound strips having a width of 5 to 25 mm with angles of 0 to 5 degrees to the circumferential plane of the tire and which enables using less rubber and higher cord content in a given cord-rubber composite volume and eliminates the disadvantages of an excessive rubber content, comprising: paired cords used as warps, in which the single cords are connected to each other as pair by RFL adhesive and the number of the paired cords in 10 cm is between 25 and 110 (50 to 220 single cords/10 cm); and SZ or ZS type opposite twisted paired cords having lower angular shear property within and between the paired cords compared to the conventional applications in cases of tension, compression and bending; wherein the paired cord comprising two cords one of which has unbalanced twist applying residual torque towards the other cord, whereas the other cord therein, having no residual torque, has balanced twist.

2. The tire cord fabric according to claim 1, wherein the said paired cords which are located juxtaposed with the other paired cords have a space between each said paired cords allowing desired rubber penetration there between.

3. The tire cord fabric according to claim 2, wherein formation of RFL film layer the spacing between the said paired cords which fills the said space between said paired cords as a result of dipping the said tire cord fabric with RFL adhesive with an adhesive formed as a RFL film layer by dipping the paired cord fabric into a RFL solution to enable the continuity of the distance between the paired cord strips.

4. The tire cord fabric according to claim 1, wherein the said paired cords comprising at least one cord wherein the said cord has yarn twist in opposite direction of a cord twisting direction.

5. The tire cord fabric according to claim 1, wherein the said paired cords having cords which are manufactured from at least one polymeric material selected from the group comprising aramide, rayon, PET, PEN, PA 6.6, PA 4.6 or aramide/nylon hybrids.

6. The tire cord fabric according to claim 1, wherein the said paired cords having a linear density between 200 and 10000 dtex.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) A tire cord fabric developed to fulfill the objectives of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying figures, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is the side view and top sectional view of the previous art.

(3) FIG. 2 (a) is the side view and top sectional view of the tire cord fabric having paired cords with similar twists.

(4) (b) is the side view and top sectional view of the single paired cord having similar twists.

(5) FIG. 3 (a) is the side view and top sectional view of the tire cord fabric having paired cords with opposite twists.

(6) (b) is the side view and top sectional view of the single paired cord having opposite twists.

(7) FIG. 4 (a) is the view of the angular movements of the similar twisted cords under compression.

(8) (b) is the view of the angular movements of the opposite twisted cords under compression.

(9) FIG. 5 (a) is the view of the surface strain directions of the similar twisted cords under compression.

(10) (b) is the view of the surface strain directions of the opposite twisted cords under compression.

(11) FIG. 6 (a) is the view of the angular movements of the similar twisted cords under tension.

(12) (b) is the view of the angular movements of the opposite twisted cords under compression.

(13) FIG. 7 (a) is the view of the surface strain directions of the similar twisted cords under tension.

(14) (b) is the view of the surface strain directions of the opposite twisted cords under compression.

(15) FIG. 8 (a) is the view of the cord structure having Z yarn twist/S cord twist.

(16) (b) is the view of the cord structure having S yarn twist/Z cord twist.

(17) The components given in the figures are numbered and the numbers refer to the following: 1. Tire cord fabric 2. Paired cord 3. S twisted cord 4. Z twisted cord 5. Similar twisted cord pair 6. Opposite twisted cord pair 7. RFL adhesive 8. S twisted yarn 9. Z twisted yarn A. Weft yarns O. Prior art P. Tensile or compressive force R. Angular movement direction of the cords D. Cord surface movement direction

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(18) The tire cord fabric (1) according to the invention enables using less rubber and higher cord content in a given cord-rubber composite volume, and it can be used in vehicle tires as reinforcement by using the paired cords (2) connected to each other as warps.

(19) The tire cord fabric (1) according to the invention is made of paired cords (2) in order to be used as reinforcement in pneumatic tires. In paired cords (2) which are preferably used, opposite cord twists (6) such as S-Z or Z-S are used (FIGS. 3a and 3b). Furthermore, the paired cords (2) may have similar cord twists (5) such as S-S or Z-Z (FIGS. 2a and 2b).

(20) In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the paired cord (2) structure is made of two cords (6) having opposite cord twists, namely S-Z or Z-S. The shear strain between the mutual faces of the cords (6) having opposite cord twists (SZ or ZS) is less than the conventional SS or ZZ cords (5) (FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7).

(21) In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the adhesive (7) filling the spacing between the cords (3, 4) in paired cord (2) is the RFL film layer formed as a result of dipping the paired cord fabric (2) into RFL solution. In fabrics (1), having paired cords (2), each paired cord (two cords) (2) are interconnected to each other with a suitable RFL film. In said paired cord fabric (2) structure, there is a desired spacing between the paired cord (2) strips for rubber penetration in order to provide sufficient rubber adhesion and tire durability.

(22) In cases of tension, compression and bending, the angular shear strain between the faces of SZ or ZS opposite twisted cord (6) type paired cords (3, 4) is less than the conventional applications. Therefore, the suitable cord spacing between the paired cords (2) can be narrower than that of the current tire cord reinforcements (O) having all cords the similar twisting direction (for example S-S twisted cord pairs (5). Besides, in case of mutual contact, SZ or ZS opposite twist cord pairs (6) have surface contact (parallel contact) between the mutual paired cords (2), whereas SS cord (3) or ZZ cord pairs (5) have point contact (cross contact).

(23) In one embodiment of the invention, the paired cords (2) have same balanced twists but they are arranged in opposite directions.

(24) In one embodiment of the invention, the paired cord strips (2) (S-S, Z-Z (5) or S-Z (6) cord twist combinations) contain unbalanced twisted cords applying residual torque to each other. The twists towards each other within the paired cord (2) increase separation resistance and stability in paired cords (2).

(25) If there is an unbalanced twist in a cord, that is yarn (ply) and cord twists are different from each other, the cords try to rotate. The reason for this is the residual torque caused by the difference between the twists. When the difference between the twists increases, the residual torque also increases. If there is no difference between the twists, no residual torque is seen.

(26) In one embodiment of the invention, one of the cords within the paired cord (2) has unbalanced twist applying residual torque towards the other cord, whereas the other cord (the one which does not have residual torque anymore) has balanced twist.

(27) In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the cords used in the paired cord (2) strip is made from a polymeric material selected from a group comprising aramid, rayon, PET, PEN, PA 6.6, PA4.6 or aramid/nylon hybrids.

(28) The linear density of the cords (3, 4) used in the paired cord (2) is between 200 and 10000 dtex. Preferably, the said value may be specifically between 1000 and 5000 dtex, and more specifically 1500 and 4000.

(29) The tire cord fabric (1) according to invention can be used as carcass reinforcement in passenger vehicle and light truck tires.

(30) The tire cord fabric (1) according to invention can be used as cap ply in passenger vehicle tires as annular wound strips with 0 or 5 degrees with the circumferential plane.

(31) In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the width of tire cord fabrics (1) used as cap ply can change between 5 to 25 mm. The said strips can be prepared by cutting from the cord fabric comprising paired cords in predetermined width.

(32) In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the number of the paired cords (2) in 10 cm changes between 25 to 110 (50 to 220 cords/10 cm).

(33) Within the framework of these basic concepts, it is possible to develop a wide variety of embodiments of the tire cord fabrics (1) according to invention. The invention cannot be limited to the examples described herein and it is essentially as defined in the claims.