Compagnie Generale Des Etablissements Michelin

Michelin Recherche Et Technique S.a.

Compagnie Generale Des Establissements Michelin

Societe Detechnologie Michelin

Nanae Shimanaka

Salvatore Pagano

Nicolas Dautrey

Ludovic Greverie

Gael Roty

Yasuhiko Futamura

Yuji Kanno

A tread for a pneumatic tire in which air column resonance sound is reduced and wear of the groove fences and tread portion are caused to be approximately the same, while drainage performance is maintained, wherein a plurality of groove fences are formed and are installed within at least one circumferential groove, extending from the bottom of the circumferential groove, and block at least 70% of the cross-sectional area of the circumferential groove, and the bending parameter of the groove fences, defined as E&#xb7;I/(h3l) (where E is the modulus at 10% elongation of the material used for the groove fences, I is the second moment of area of the groove fence, h is the height of the groove fence, and l is the width of the groove fence) is at least equal to 250 Pa and at most equal to 350 Pa.

Pneumatic tire tread

A vehicle tire includes a tread formed of a heat-expandable rubber composition when in an unvulcanized state. The composition includes: from 50 to 100 phr of a copolymer based on styrene and butadiene; optionally from 0 to 50 phr of another diene elastomer, such as a polybutadiene or natural rubber; more than 50 phr of a reinforcing filler, such as silica and/or carbon black; between 5 and 25 phr of a blowing agent, such as an azodicarbonamide compound; and between 5 and 25 phr of a heat-fusible compound having a melting point between 70&#xb0; C. and 150&#xb0; C., such as urea or a heat-fusible urea derivative. A total content of the blowing agent and the heat-fusible compound is greater than 15 phr. Use of the composition enables, after the tire is vulcanized, a significant reduction in noise emitted by the tire during running.

Tyre, the tread of which comprises a heat-expandable rubber composition reducing noise during travel

A pneumatic tire tread capable of mitigating air column resonance and maintaining drainage performance while ensuring that the flexible fences are abraded to a similar extent to the tread portion is formed from a rubber composition and has a tread portion, in which is formed at least one primary groove of depth D and width W having a base surface and two opposing walls, and multiple flexible fences of thickness E, which extend inside the primary groove such that at least 70% of the cross-sectional area of the primary groove is blocked and which are disposed at intervals such that at least one of the multiple flexible fences is in the primary groove in the tread contact patch when the tire is rolling, wherein the multiple flexible fences are formed from at least a rubber composition for fences that is different from the rubber composition for the tread portion; and the rubber composition for fences has an abrasion index that is more than or equal to twice the abrasion index of the rubber composition of the tread portion.

A pneumatic tire tread capable of mitigating air column resonance and maintaining drainage performance while ensuring that the flexible fences are abraded to a similar extent to the tread portion is formed from a rubber composition, and has a tread portion in which a primary groove is formed and multiple flexible fences is formed in the primary groove; the flexible fences are formed from at least a rubber composition for fences that is different from the rubber composition for the tread portion; the rubber composition for fences of the flexible fences has an abrasion index that is more than or equal to twice the abrasion index of the rubber composition of the tread portion; and the rubber composition for fences comprises a filler composition that is based on (a) a diene elastomer, (b) a reinforcing filler selected from the group consisting of carbon black, inorganic fillers, organic fillers, and mixtures of said fillers, which has a BET specific surface area of less than 100 m/g and is in an amount of between 20 phr and 120 phr, preferably between 30 phr and 100 phr; (c) a plasticizing system selected from the group consisting of liquid plasticizer, hydrocarbon resins and mixtures thereof; and (d) a vulcanizing agent.

A pneumatic tire tread capable of mitigating air column resonance and maintaining drainage performance while ensuring that the flexible fences are abraded to a similar extent to the tread portion is formed from a rubber composition, and has a tread portion in which a primary groove is formed and multiple flexible fences is formed in the primary groove; the flexible fences are formed from at least a rubber composition for fences that is different from the rubber composition for the tread portion; the rubber composition for fences of the flexible fences has an abrasion index that is more than or equal to twice the abrasion index of the rubber composition of the tread portion; and the rubber composition for fences comprises a filler composition that is based on (a) a diene elastomer, (b) a filler A, which is more than 50 phr of filler A in which the filler particles are nanoparticles having an average grain size (by weight average) smaller than 500 nm; and (c) a filler B, which is more than 50 phr of filler B in which the filler particles are microparticles having a median grain size (by weight average) larger than 1 &#x3bc;m.

A pneumatic tire tread capable of mitigating air column resonance and maintaining drainage performance while ensuring that the flexible fences are abraded to a similar extent to the tread portion is formed from a rubber composition, and has a tread portion in which at least one primary groove is formed and multiple flexible fences is formed in the primary groove; the flexible fences are formed from at least a rubber composition for fences that is different from the rubber composition for the tread portion; the rubber composition for fences of the flexible fences has an abrasion index that is more than or equal to twice the abrasion index of the rubber composition of the tread portion; and the rubber composition for fences comprises a filler composition that is based on (a) a diene elastomer, (b) a reinforcing filler which is less than 50 phr; (c) a plasticizing system, and (d) a vulcanizing system.

Tire including a crown, sidewalls extending the crown on each side, these sidewalls being connected to beads intended to be in contact with a mounting rim on which the tire is mounted, this tire having an internal wall delimiting, with the mounting rim, an internal cavity to allow the tire to be inflated. This tire includes, over at least part of its internal wall delimiting the internal cavity, a plurality of protrusions of elongate shape forming a dense coating, this tire being characterized in that these protrusions of elongate shape include a plurality of supporting fibers and a plurality of branching fibers, the branching fibers being attached to the supporting fibers, each supporting fiber having two ends, of which at least one is attached to the internal wall of the tire.

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Nanae Shimanaka