Application of dynamic mechanical analysis to the evaluation of tire compounds

Laboratory testing of tire compounds, utilizing Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), has been actively pursued for more than a decade by major tire manufacturers. The materials information gained is generally qualitative in nature and focuses on specific improvements in performance of one test compound to another. Building on the known abilities of DMA, this work proposes a new flexural test geometry with the potential to give information that would be directly applicable to changing tire performance under race conditions. Preliminary results indicate that the flexural test specimen can be used successfully to evaluate the effect of tire aging and thermal cycling on viscoelastic performance of the compound. Further, the results suggest that future testing, using this geometry, will be able to evaluate effects of thermal cycles on both the viscoelastic properties and on grip.