Study of the effect of different carbon black combinations on physico-mechanical properties of natural rubber based solid tyre tread compound

Abstract

The performance and the life-time of a solid tyre depend on the properties of the solid tyre tread compound. Abrasion resistance and rebound resilience are the key parameters of the solid tyre tread compound. Carbon black types used in tread compounds and carbon black ratio in the combined filler are the main contributors for the above two properties. But these two properties behave in contradictory ways such that when carbon black particle size is small, the abrasion resistance is high when rebound resilience is low. Hence most suitable carbon black type and ratio should be selected into solid tyre tread compound to have the optimum abrasion resistance and rebound resilience. In this research, the effect of N220 and N330 carbon black grades and their ratio on solid tyre tread compound was studied. N220: N330 ratio was varied in the combined filler from 0:50 pphr to 50:0 pphr to find the optimum ratio, which provides the best abrasion resistance in solid tyre tread compound. N220:N330 optimum ratio was observed as 30:20 at observed maximum tensile properties and abrasion volume loss was at its lowest point. Further, the highest standard deviation of carbon black aggregate size was observed for this ratio and that ratio has shown the highest reinforcement in the solid tyre tread compound.