The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

Edward Lee Johnson

Steven Kristofer Henning

Bruce Raymond Hahn

Michael Lester Kerns

Abdulkareem Melaiye

Bing Jiang

Robert Alan Kinsey

Adel Farhan Halasa

Wen-Liang Hsu

Marc Weydert

Georges Marcel Victor Thielen

Lewis Timothy Lukich

Joseph Alan Incavo

Ronald David Fiedler

Richard Earl Woodcock

Abdulkareem Modupe Melaiye

The invention relates to allyl functionalized precipitated silica, rubber compositions containing such silica, particularly sulfur cured rubber compositions, and articles of manufacture having a component thereof such as, for example tires. The invention particularly relates to synthetic amorphous silica, particularly a precipitated silica, treated with an allyl silane, particularly to a precipitated silica containing allyl functional groups.

Specialized silica, rubber composition containing specialized silica and products with component thereof

The present invention provides for oxygen scavenging materials and uses thereof for reducing oxygen content in an air cavity of a mounted tire, such as to reduce oxidation of a tire. The oxygen scavenging material can include a metal or metal-based material, an antioxidant, or microorganism. In one example, the oxygen scavenging material may be situated or secured within a tire cavity or secured to the tire rim of a wheel prior to mounting of the tire on the rim. Accordingly, the tire is mounted on the tire rim to define an air cavity with the oxygen scavenging material being located therein. The air cavity is be filled with air comprising oxygen to a desired internal air pressure with the oxygen scavenging material being provided in an amount sufficient for reducing oxygen content in the air cavity, such as to reduce oxidation of the tire thereby increasing the lifespan thereof.

Oxygen scavenging material and use thereof for reducing oxygen content in air cavities of mounted tires

The invention is directed to an oil extended rubber and composition comprising: a solution-polymerized elastomer derived from at least one conjugated diene monomer and at least one vinyl aromatic monomer, the elastomer coupled with at least one metal selected from the group consisting of silicon and tin; and from about 5 to about 70 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of elastomer (phr), of a process oil having a glass transition temperature of from about &#x2212;80&#xb0; C. to about &#x2212;40&#xb0; C., a polycyclic aromatic content of less than 3 percent by weight as determined by the IP346 method, and an aromatic content of less than 20 percent by weight as measured by ASTM D2140.

Oil extended rubber and composition containing low PCA oil

The invention is directed to an oil extended rubber and composition comprising: a solution polymerized elastomer derived from isoprene and optionally at least member of the group consisting of conjugated dienes and vinyl aromatic monomers; and from about 5 to about 70 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of elastomer (phr), of a process oil having a glass transition temperature of from about &#x2212;80&#xb0; C. to about &#x2212;40&#xb0; C. and a polycyclic aromatic content of less than 3 percent by weight as determined by the IP346 method.

The process of this invention can be utilized to stabilize tin-coupled rubbery polymers. It is particularly useful for stabilizing rubbery polymers that do not contain bound styrene. This invention more specifically discloses a process for improving the stability of a tin-coupled rubbery polymer which comprises (1) adding 0.1 phr to about 4 phr of styrene to a living rubbery polymer to produce a styrene capped rubbery polymer, (2) adding a tin halide to the styrene capped living rubbery polymer to produce the tin-coupled rubbery polymer, and (3) optionally, adding a tertiary chelating alkyl 1,2-ethylene diamine or a metal salt of a cyclic alcohol to the tin-coupled rubbery polymer. The use of metal salts of cyclic alcohols is preferred because they do not lead to recycle stream contamination. This is because cyclic alcohols do not co-distill with hexane or form compounds during steam-stripping which co-distill with hexane. In other words, the boiling points of these metal salts of cyclic alcohols are very high, so they do not co-distill with hexane and contaminate recycle streams. Additionally, metal salts of cyclic alcohols are considered to be environmentally safe. In fact, sodium mentholate is used as a food additive.

Technique for stablizing tin-coupled elastomers

This invention discloses a process for preparing an asymmetrical tin-coupled rubbery polymer which comprises: (1) continuously polymerizing in a first reactor at least one diene monomer to a conversion of at least about 90 percent, utilizing an anionic initiator to produce a polymer cement containing living polydiene rubber chains; (2) continuously feeding the polymer cement produced in the first reactor into a second reactor; (3) adding a tin halide to the polymer cement in a second reactor under conditions of agitation to produce a polymer cement having the tin halide homogeneously dispersed therein, wherein the residence time in the second reactor is within the range of about 15 minutes to about 4 hours; (4) continuously feeding the polymer cement having the tin halide homogeneously dispersed therein into a plug flow reactor having a residence time of about 15 minutes to about 1 hour to produce a polymer cement of the asymmetrically tin-coupled rubbery polymer; and (5) continuously withdrawing the polymer cement of the asymmetrically tin-coupled rubbery polymer from the plug flow reactor. The asymmetrically tin-coupled rubbery polymer made by this process exhibits improved stability on aging.

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Richfield, OH, United States of America

Edward Lee Johnson