The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

Benjamin Isaiah Garn

Dinesh Chandra

Daniel Vojtko

Marc Borowczak

Betul Buehler

Jungmee Kang

Cheng-Hsiung Lin

Stephan Rodewald

Benjamin John Iverson

Andreas Frantzen

Carl Trevor Ross Pulford

Anne Therese Peronnet-Paquin

Xiaoping Yang

Carolin Anna Welter

Byoung Jo Lee

Jimmy L Richards

Sagar Dilip Bafana

Ryan Michael Schmidt

Todd James Spencer

Mingliang Du

Gregory Alan Schessler

The disclosure provides for a process for manufacturing a tread molding element configured to mold at least a portion of a tire tread, the process comprising the following successive steps of providing a first tread molding element that can be a 3D-printed element made of a plastic composition A; forming a reverse mold of the first tread molding element, wherein the reverse mold is made of a plastic composition B comprising one or more elastomers; heating the reverse mold to a temperature above 50° C. when the first tread molding element is a 3D-printed element made of a plastic composition A; and casting a second tread molding element from the reverse mold to obtain a second tread molding element; wherein the second tread molding element is made from a plastic composition C comprising one or more thermosetting resins.

Process for manufacturing a tread molding element of a tire-mold comprising a thermosetting polymer

The disclosure provides a process for manufacturing a tread molding element configured to mold at least a portion of a tire tread, the process comprising the steps of modeling a three-dimensional shape of a tread molding element through a modeling program that can be recognized by a 3D printer; providing one or more plastic compositions comprising one or more thermoplastic polymers having a melting point of at least 180° C.; forming a tread molding element by 3D printing from the one or more plastic compositions; and optionally annealing the tread molding element.

Process for manufacturing a tread molding element configured to mold at least a portion of a tire tread

A self-inflating tire assembly includes an air tube mounted within a tire sidewall groove. The air tube is in contacting engagement with opposite angled groove surfaces surrounding the air tube. A segment of the air tube is flattened from an expanded diameter to a flat diameter by bending and compression of the groove in a rolling tire footprint to force air evacuated from the flattened segment along a tube air passageway. The sidewall groove extends into an annular, axially extending, sidewall surface such as an axially oriented surface of a tire chafer protrusion located in non-contacting relationship with the rim. The air tube is extruded from a rubber composition, the rubber composition comprising: a diene based rubber; from 0.25 to 5 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of rubber (phr), of a self-lubrication agent capable of migrating from the rubber composition to the groove surface and disposing on the groove surface as a liquid; and from 1 to 15 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of rubber (phr), of a vulcanization modifier for use in the second rubber composition include α,ω-bis(N,N′-dihydrocarbylthiocarbamamoyldithio)alkanes, bismaleimides, and biscitraconimides.

Air maintenance tire

A mounting member for an air maintenance tire is provided. The tire includes a sidewall that is formed with a groove for receiving an air tube and a recess for receiving at least one pneumatic connector that is in fluid communication with the air tube. The mounting member includes a plurality of layers, in which the layers are in stacked alignment with one another. The plurality of layers includes at least an axially outward layer and an axially inward layer. The mounting member is received in the recess and secured to the tire sidewall, thereby securing the position of the at least one pneumatic connector. A method of forming a mounting member for an air maintenance tire is also provided.

Mounting member for an air maintenance tire

An encapsulated sensor unit is embedded in a tire. The encapsulated sensor unit includes a sensor portion and an antenna portion. A first encapsulating layer is disposed about the sensor portion, and not about the antenna portion. A second encapsulating layer is disposed about the first encapsulating layer and the antenna portion. A third encapsulating layer is disposed about the second encapsulating layer.

Encapsulated embedded tire sensor unit

A self-inflating tire assembly includes an air tube mounted within a tire sidewall or chafer groove. The air tube is in contacting engagement with opposite angled groove surfaces surrounding the air tube. A segment of the air tube is flattened from an expanded diameter to a flat diameter by bending and compression of the groove in a rolling tire footprint to force air evacuated from the flattened segment along a tube air passageway. A coverstrip overlays and seals the groove and provides an abrasion resistant surface on the exterior of the tire. The coverstrip is made from a vulcanizable rubber composition comprising from 50 to 80 phr of a polybutadiene, from 50 to 20 phr of natural rubber, and from 0.1 to 5 phr of a vulcanization modifier.

Growing community of inventors

Norton, OH, United States of America

Benjamin Isaiah Garn