Effect of vein graphite powder on mechanical, curing, and thermal properties of solid tire vulcanizate

The solid resilient tire construction consists of three layers namely tread, cushion and base. The cushion or the middle layer provides a comfortable ride and also aids to reduce the heat buildup when the tire is subjected to heavy loads. Repeated loading on the cushion compound causes heat generation due to hysteresis and with the heat due to friction from tread; should be relived promptly to reduce tire blowouts. The aim of the study is to enhance the properties of the cushion compound of the solid tire using Sri Lankan vein graphite powder as a filler. The study also focused on the improvement of the mechanical, curing, and thermal properties of vein graphite filled cushion compounds. The results show a decrease in tensile strength with the graphite powder content. Maximum torque and the cure time were hardly increased over the graphite particle content. Furthermore, results elucidate a 66% of increment in thermal conductivity at the 10% of graphite particle content of the compound relative to the unfilled cushion compound. It was revealed that tensile strength was decreased (with increased hardness) due to low interfacial adhesion and air gaps present between graphite particles and the compound. Both thermal conductivity and curing time can be further increased and decreased respectively with an introduction of novel coating on the graphite particles. This interface coating could be used as a binder between powder particles and the tire compound so that the air gaps can be further reduced within the vulcanizate. The findings will pave an economical way in improving solid tire quality while upgrading road safety. Copyright (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Third International Conference on Recent Advances in Materials and Manufacturing 2021 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).