INFLUENCE OF THE ROAD-SURFACE TEXTURE ON THE SPEED DEPENDENCY OF TIRE / ROAD FRICTION
Tire/wet road friction depends on two road-surface texture scales: the macrotexture (centimeterto millimeter dimensions) is responsible for the speed dependency of friction, and the microtexture (submillimeter dimensions) is responsible for the friction level at any speed. This paper deals firstly with the description of road-microtexture, the macrotexture scale being well documented. Considering the fact that rubber energy-loss controls tire/wet road friction and that angularity of road-surface asperities influences greatly tire deformation, the second author has proposed a description method derived from the motif-combination technique. This method defines two parameters related to the sharpness of asperity summits and the relative position of these summits. A model has been then proposed by the first author to describe the friction-speed curve from roadsurface macroand microtexture descriptors, tire-related characteristics (rubber properties, wear) and road wetness. The description is based on the Stribeck curve. The speed-dependency friction model is applied to the analysis of car-braking tests. Comparisons between calculated and measured friction-coefficients at different braking speeds are presented and discussed.
MORPHOLOGY AND NANOMECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NR/SBR BLENDS
ABSTRACT Tire tread materials are generally blends of two or more rubbers, fillers, and other materials, resulting in a rubber compound with complex multiphase morphology. The bulk properties of th...
EFFECT OF SAMPLE PREPARATION ON WATER TREE RESISTANCE OF XLPE/SEBS BLENDS
The effects of an aromatic polymer, such as poly[styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)b-styrene] (SEBS), and its preparation processes on water tree resistance, morphology, crystallinity, dielectric constant and dielectric loss tangent of crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE)/SEBS and XLPE/SEBS/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) blends were investigated. The XLPE/SEBS samples were characterized by means of differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, dielectric spectral analysis and the accelerated water treeing experiment. The results clearly showed that although SEBS was partially compatible with LDPE and it was dispersed evenly in XLPE matrix, the blends demonstrated excellent dielectric performances, such as dielectric constant and dissipation factor. The crystallinity of XLPE/SEBS blends was decreased with increase in SEBS content and it was further decreased with the addition of EVA. SEBS could effectively improve the water-tree resistance of XLPE and both SEBS and EVA were found to improve the water tree resistance of XLPE synergistically as expected. The differences in sample preparation processes could change the phase morphology and dielectric performance of the blends, and could also influence the dispersion of SEBS in XLPE matrix as well as the crystallinity of the blends. Different preparation processes led to different water tree resistance behaviours of the samples. The improvement of SEBS dispersion in XLPE matrix helped to improve the water tree resistance of XLPE.