No abstract

The tyre industry is constantly striving to reduce the hysteresis of its products while maintaining a high level of product quality and performance. Using silica aids hysteresis but at the expense of processing and cost disadvantages. Increasing the addition of silane has environmental implications because of the ethanol that is formed and released during compounding, curing and storage. Nevertheless, improving hysteresis in passenger tread compounds containing carbon black as the primary fi ller remains a challenge for tyre compounders. Chemically activated aramid fi bre (Sulfron 3001), an extremely effective hysteresis improvement agent, reduces hysteresis signifi cantly without compromising the other physical properties of the vulcanisates. This paper summarises laboratory results obtained by adding Sulfron 3001 to a passenger tread compound which demonstrate the potential it offers for hysteresis improvement.