Elastomeric compositions and tire belt structure

TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates generally to improved elastomeric compositions and more particularly to improved elastomeric compositions formed of natural or diene rubbers, including copolymers such as styrene butadiene rubbers, which are especially useful for forming reinforced tire belts or the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various rubber compounds are formulated using a variety of different additive agents to cure the rubber and control and modify various properties of the rubber depending upon the desired end use. In formulating the compositions, these additives are selected for their usefulness o effect on modifying or providing the desired properties so as to achieve an end product which has the best attainable balance of properties depending upon the intended use of the rubber composition. Unfortunately, any particular addition agent might well and, in fact, usually does affect more than one of the properties of the final composition. Thus, while any particular additive may improve or provide a desired modification of one property, the same ingredient may degrade or undesirably affect one or more of the other properties. Thus, it is usually necessary to add a variety of different ingredients not only to change or modify the desired properties, but also to counteract the undesirable modifications or changes which are wrought or affected by other additives. Hence, in many rubber compositions there are a large number of ingredients that are added in controlled proportions in an attempt to optimize the properties for the desired end product.
For example, in rubber compositions which are for a tire belt skim, often referred to as belt skim or cord reinforced rubber composites, or steel cord-rubber composites, certain characteristics are required. The performance of these steel cord-rubber composites as used in tires, conveyor belts, etc. is determined by the properties of the individual components (i.e. steel cord and rubber individually), as well as by the adhesion between the components. To obtain good adhesion between steel cords and rubber, the steel cords used in tires or reinforced composite articles are conventionally plated with brass which is an alloy of copper and zinc. The adhesion bond between brass and rubber is formed in situ during or concurrent with the vulcanization (curing) of the rubber with sulfur. Thus, sulfur in the rubber compound has a dual purpose; i.e. it vulcanizes or crosslinks the rubber, and also promotes adhesion of the rubber to the brass plated steel cords.
The bond between brass and rubber is believed to involve the formation of a thin layer of copper sulfide. The exact stoichiometry of this copper sulfide is not known completely; however, the formation of this bond and its durability is of the utmost importance in performance and durability. The formulation or composition of the rubber in a belt skim application is therefore very critical because of several requirements that must be fulfilled, namely (1) good processing characteristics; (2) the resulting rubber must be very resistant to fatigue crack propagation ("tough" rubber); (3) the resulting adhesive bond between brass and rubber must be strong and durable, including resistance to moisture and corrosion actions in general.
Good processing characteristics refer to a rubber stock of moderate viscosity and a good balance between scorch time (t.sub.s2) and cure times (t.sub.25, t.sub.90, t.sub.100). A very short scorch time is normally not good because it does not give enough processing time for forming or shaping operations (e.g. time for the rubber to flow during calendaring, extrusion, and molding). On the other hand, a scorch time that is too long is undesirable since the total cure cycle will be prolonged and therefore decrease productivity. Similarly, too long a cure time will require excessive residence time of the tire in the mold and also result in too long an overall cure time to be commercially effective.
However, as stated above, in selecting the desired addition agents to provide these desired properties, while any given agent may have a beneficial effect on one of these properties, it may have a serious detrimental or deleterious effect on one or more of the other properties. For example, the addition of triethanolamine to a belt skim containing silica may have some beneficial effect by reducing cure time, but it has a very serious detrimental effect on the adhesion of the belt skim composition to the plated steel wires. This is just one example of many of how a particular additive may favorably or beneficial change one property and at the same time adversely affect another property, even to the extent that such an addition is commercially useless.
There have been many different prior art proposals for various combinations o additives to various types of rubber compounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,790 assigned to Uniroyal discloses the use of various additives for altering certain characteristics of different types of rubber compounds. This patent discloses, for example, the use of both peroxide and sulfur type curing agents, as well as the addition of silica, carbon black, and basic zinc methacrylate to achieve certain results. However, this patent does not disclose specifically a sulfur cured natural or diene rubber which includes high amounts of both silica and carbon black, as well as a zinc methacrylate and does not disclose a zinc dimethacrylate at all.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,122 assigned to Nalco Chemical Company discloses a sulfur cured styrene butadiene rubber to which carbon black and zinc methacrylate are added. It does not disclose the use of silica in this composition.
UK Patent No. 1,364,138 assigned to Acushnet Company discloses a polybutadiene rubber which has silica and zinc oxide and methacrylic acid added thereto. It does not suggest the addition of carbon black nor is this a sulfur cured product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,684, assigned to Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., discloses a natural rubber and styrene butadiene rubber having carbon black and zinc oxide and stearic acid, as well as zinc dimethacrylate added thereto. It does not suggest the addition of silica.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,770, assigned to Firestone Tire and Rubber, discloses a peroxide cured rubber as opposed to a sulfur cured rubber which includes silica or carbon black and zinc dimethacrylate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,326 assigned to Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, Inc., discloses a sulfur curable rubber including carbon black and zinc dimethacrylate. It does not teach the use of silica.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,269 discloses a golf ball made of a peroxide cured rubber which includes the addition of zinc oxide and methacrylic acid and zinc methacrylate. Various fillers are suggested including silica and carbon black but no specific indication is given of a sulfur cured rubber compound with carbon black and silica as well as zinc dimethacrylate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,810 assigned to Toyo Denka Kogyo Co. Ltd. and Kamatari Co. Ltd. also discloses a golf ball formulation which is preferably peroxide cured, but contains a minor amount of sulfur in the formulation. No examples of silica and carbon black fillers are given.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,409 assigned to Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. discloses a method of producing zinc dimethacrylate and also a peroxide cured rubber with dimethacrylate added thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,946 assigned to General Tire and Rubber Company discloses a sulfur cured natural rubber and styrene butadiene rubber mix which includes both carbon black and silica but does not disclose the use of zinc methacrylate.
A brochure from Sartomer Co. discloses a silica filled sulfur cured natural rubber compound with zinc dimethacrylate, but does not disclose carbon black.
None of the above mentioned references teach or suggest a sulfur cured natural or diene rubber having specifically both silica and carbon black and zinc dimethacrylate.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, an improved elastomeric rubber composition and reinforced products especially tire belts made therefrom are provided. The rubber composition includes an elastomer selected from the group of natural rubber and butadiene rubbers including copolymers of butadiene rubber and mixtures thereof. Added to the rubber or rubbers are an effective amount of carbon black, an effective amount of silica, a vulcanizing agent including sulfur and/or a sulfur compound and an effective amount up to about 12 parts by weight per hundred parts of rubber of a metal salt of a low molecular weight unsaturated organic acid, preferably zinc dimethacrylate. One or more of the following ingredients may be added either in addition to the carbon black or as substitutes for some or all of the carbon black. These ingredients include silanes, a formaldehyde polymer tackifier, a formaldehyde resin such as a resorcinol polymer and one or more amines. For reinforced tire belt compositions, it is conventional and desirable that the carbon black be present at least to a certain extent. However, if reduced amounts of carbon black are desired, the optional ingredients either alone or in combination will be effective to reduce the cure time in this silica containing sulfur cured diene and/or natural rubber compound with the metal salt of the low molecular weight unsaturated organic acid.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Among the many other uses of vulcanized rubber compositions is its use for reinforced tire belts. A tire belt may be reinforced with various materials that are formed into cords. Many types of materials such as synthetics and steel wire (conventionally with a brass coating plated thereon) ar used. In selecting the elastomeric composition for such a reinforced tire belt, it is desirable to optimize various characteristics and properties of the final belt composition as noted above. Briefly, the characteristics include good adhesion to the cords which are embedded therein so that the cords do not separate or pull out. The elastomeric material should have a reasonably short scorch time so that the curing process can start quickly but the scorch time must be at least long enough for the tire belt to be calendared and for sufficient time in the mold, to form into the necessary tire shape before it has reached this particular state of cure. (Scorch time or t.sub.s2 represents the time to incipient cure which is a measure of processing latitude. As defined by ASTM standard D-2084, scorch time or t.sub.s2 is equal to the time in minutes for two inch-pounds-force rise in torque above the minimum torque, T.sub.min.
Further, it is also desirable to have a reasonably short cure time as measured by t.sub.25, t.sub.90, and t.sub.100 especially t.sub.90 and t.sub.100 so that the tire can be removed from the mold fairly quickly and the cure can proceed while the tire is cooling outside the mold. (t.sub.25, t.sub.90, and t.sub.100 refer to the time necessary to reach the respective percent of cure represented by the subscript as measured by the oscillating disc cure meter as defined in ASTM standard D-2084 test method). Thus, both relatively short scorch times and quite low cure times are desirable characteristics of the composition of rubber for reinforced tire belts. The composition also should have a moderate viscosity.
Further, it is desired that the tire belt material have rather high tear and fatigue resistance and a high modulus of elasticity at low to moderate strains. The composition when formed into a tire should have a high pull-out force to resist the cords pulling out and a high percent of residual rubber coverage after pull-out.
All of these various properties can be altered to a certain extent by the addition of different additives or materials to the tire rubber "recipe" for the belt skim.
For example, conventional belt skims contain mostly carbon black reinforcing filler with only a small amount of silica, e.g. 5-10 parts of silica per hundred of rubber (phr); normally the silica is of the precipitated type. This silica is part of the adhesion package normally referred to in the industry as the RFS (Resorcinol-Formaldehyde-Silica) system. For example, one standard belt skim formulation (Table VII, Composition 7A) contains 5 phr HiSil, a precipitated silica sold by PPG Industries, Inc.
The following are the ingredients together with their functions which are conventionally present in truck, passenger, and giant tire belt skim formulations.
Natural Rubber: (NR) 100 phr--Most belt skims employ an all NR compound although some skims utilize a blend of NR and Polybutadiene Rubber (BR). BR and/or NR is usually the major component of the blend. As is conventional, the amount of rubber is reported as 100 parts, and all ingredients are reported as parts per hundred of rubber, (phr) by weight.
Carbon Black: (of the reinforcing type), e.g. 60 phr HAF (high abrasion furnace black). The filler, if of the reinforcing type (small particle size, large surface area), as used in belt skims strengthens the rubber, especially at elevated temperatures, i.e. increases modulus, tear strength, stress at break (also referred to as tensile strength), strain or elongation at break, energy-to-break, fatigue crack propagation resistance and abrasion resistance. Carbon black also generally increases cure rates.
Zinc Oxide: 3-10 phr is an activator for vulcanization reactions, increases modulus and other strength properties.
Stearic Acid: 0.5-2 phr, reacts with zinc oxide to form zinc stearate which is then active in vulcanization reactions with sulfur and the accelerator.
Sulfur: about 5 phr (Note: in same belt skim formulation, was 6.25 phr Crystex, a trade name of insoluble sulfur which is an 80% active insoluble sulfur with 20% aromatic petroleum oil). Sulfur is the main crosslinking agent which reacts with the polymer (rubber) to form a carbon-sulfur.sub.x -carbon crosslink where x can be 1 or greater; (i.e. monosulfide or polysulfide crosslinks).
Accelerator, e.g. DCBS: dicyclohexyl benzthiazyl sulfenamide which is a primary accelerator. It reacts with sulfur in the presence of zinc oxide and stearic acid to form a carbon-sulfur.sub.x -carbon crosslink. It also accelerates these reactions.
Aromatic petroleum oil: about 8 phr, e.g. ASTM Type 101--This is to improve processing, dispersion of carbon black, and to lower viscosity. Without the oil, the compound will be very dry and difficult to process.
Manobond: A complex organic compound based on cobalt and boron (a modified cobalt boroacylate) sold under the tradename Manobond by Manchem Ltd. This improves adhesion of rubber to metals such as steel, brass, or zinc. Prevents corrosion of the brass-rubber bond when in contact with water and/or oxygen, etc.
Wingstay 300: about 2.0 phr; An antioxidant, N-1,3 dimethylbutyl, N'-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine, sold under the tradename Wingstay 300 by Goodyear Chemical.
Tackifier: about 3.0 phr; A tackifier which is formaldehyde polymer with parateriary octyl phenol (a modified alkylphenolformaldehyde). Its exact function is unknown but is thought to stiffen and knead together ingredients in the formulation.
Cyrez Resin: about 3.3 phr; A modified melamineformaldehyde resin and inert carrier sold under the tradename Cyrez by American Cyanamid. This may enhance adhesion of the steel cords to rubber and also stiffens the rubber.
Resorcinal Formaldehyde Resin: about 2 phr; improves adhesion
Precipitated Silica: up to about 5 phr
As indicated above, small amounts of silica, e.g. up to about 5 to 10 phr have been used in the past. However, increasing the silica above this level adversely affects both the scorch times and especially the cure times.
According to this invention, a technique for replacing a part of the carbon black by reinforcing silica is provided wherein the improvements of silica are obtained without the substantial detriments. The main reason for using increased silica in a belt skim is to improve the tear and fatigue crack propagation properties. The silica is preferably a fumed silica of surface area of about 200 m.sup.2 /g and nominal particle diameter of about 0.014 microns. A suitable silica is manufactured by Cabot Corp. and sold under the tradename CAB-O-SIL MS7. There should be between 10 and 80 phr of silica, and between 20 and 80 phr of carbon black, and preferably this range should be between 25 and 35 phr silica and between 25 and 50 phr carbon black. Optimally, there should be about 30 phr of silica and 30 phr of carbon black. The amounts of silica and carbon black vary depending on the particular grades used.
Precipitated silica ca also be used in place of fumed silica as long as it is of the reinforcing type. Precipitated silicas of comparable particle size to CAB-O-SIL MS7 are sold under the tradenames Ultrasil VN3 by Degussa Corp and HiSil 132 by PPG Industries. Fumed silica is preferred for belt skims over precipitated silica because the former is hydrophobic, i.e. it does not attract water, which is a desirable trait if the rubber is to used for a tire belt skim application where normally it is desired to exclude water. As indicated above, in the past, the use of significant amounts of silica in belt skims, e.g. above 10 phr, with carbon black has caused curing problems. These problems are that while the scorch time may be relatively low, the cure times, especially t.sub.90 and t.sub.100 are inordinately long. The reason for this is not completely understood. However, both precipitated and especially fumed silicas are lower in pH than most carbon blacks and the slow down in cure rate (increase in cure time) is believed to be caused at least in part by this lower pH of the silica. Also accelerators have a tendency to be adsorbed on the surface active sites of silica so that more accelerators may be needed to achieve cure rates and state of cure comparable to that of the same compound without silica. There are several ways to alleviate this problem of slow curing with silica. They are:
(1) Adding activators for silica, e.g. glycols such as diethylene glycol or polyethylene glycol and amines such as triethanolamine. These materials are suitable to add for applications other than belt skims; however, triethanolamine is particularly bad for adhesion;
(2) Silane coupling agents can be used. However, in larger amounts which may be necessary to achieve the proper cure characteristics, the moduli at high strains will tend to increase substantially and may increase so much that the tear properties and stress strain curve of the compound containing silica will become similar to that of the all carbon black filled compound. Thus, the benefits of the silica are lost.
However, it has been found that it is possible to obtain the benefits of both the silica and carbon black in a sulfur cured natural or butadiene rubber system by the addition of relatively small amounts of zinc dimethacrylate or other metal salts of low molecular weight unsaturated organic acids which will counteract the most serious detrimental effect of long cure times. Specifically, it has been found that the addition of zinc dimethacrylate or other metal salt of a low molecular weight unsaturated organic acid to a tire belt skim composition which includes both carbon black and silica will actually cause a significant decrease in cure time without adversely affecting scorch time and steel cord adhesion while retaining the beneficial aspects of the silica. Additional additives can also be used.
Table I below shows the effect of the addition, individually, of various ones of these additives including carbon black in a sulfur cured natural rubber composition filled with silica. Table I shows the effect only with respect to the viscosity and curing characteristics of the rubber composition. The base formulation is 100 parts of natural rubber, 30 parts of CAB-O-SIL MS7, 5 parts of zinc oxide, 1.5 parts of stearic acid, 4 parts of aromatic oil, 2.5 parts of sulfur, 1.0 parts of DCBS and the other ingredients as shown in Table I. As used herein, "parts per hundred", or phr means the parts based on 100 parts of rubber.
TABLE I__________________________________________________________________________Effect of Zinc Dimethacrylate in Model NR Compounds Filled with SilicaFormulation: NR 100, Cab-o-sil MS7 30, ZnO 5, Stearic Acid 1.5, Oil 4,Sulfur 2.5, DCBS 1.0,Other Ingredients as Below:__________________________________________________________________________Compound No. 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F 1G 1H 1J__________________________________________________________________________Zinc Dimethacrylate 0 4 0 4 0 4 0 4 0Tackifier 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0Wingstay 300 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0Resorcinol (B-19-S) 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.4 2.4 0Cyrez 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.3Manobond 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Silane X50S 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0HAF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Mooney Viscosity, ML-4', 100.degree. C. 67 50 56 41 67 50 60 50 56Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min inch lb. 11 5.1 7.3 4.0 11.5 5.3 9.5 5.4 10.0T.sub.max inch lb. 28 24 18.3 22.0 29 21.5 21.5 23.0 28.5t.sub.s2, minutes 20 28 22 21 13 24 29 29 20t.sub.25 minutes 26 37 26 26 17 30 45 36 25t.sub.90, minutes 119 64 126 50 76 56 159 68 105t.sub.100, minutes 150 80 160 68 100 70 190 90 130__________________________________________________________________________Compound No. 1K 1L 1M 1N 1P 1Q 1R 1S 1T__________________________________________________________________________Zinc Dimethacrylate 4 0 4 0 4 0 4 0 4Tackifier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Wingstay 300 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Resorcinol (B-19-S) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Cyrez 3.3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Manobond 0 .78 .78 0 0 0 0 0 0Silane X50S 0 0 0 1.5 1.5 3.0 3.0 0 0HAF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 30 30Mooney Viscosity, ML-4', 100.degree. C. 47 55 38 56 51 56 44 105 56Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min inch lb. 5.0 8.6 4.1 9.1 5.8 7.9 2.4 20.0 6.0T.sub.max inch lb. 27.5 23.0 26.5 25.8 26.0 26.5 14.6 48 36.2t.sub.s2, minutes 22 22 37 17 16 12 15 7 7t.sub.25 minutes 30 26 54 22 23 19 18 11 10t.sub.90, minutes 54 77 100 88 48 60 38 100 27t.sub.100, minutes 70 110 130 130 65 100 55 150 40__________________________________________________________________________
Composition 1A is the base or comparison composition which does not contain any zinc dimethacrylate or any of the other additives such as carbon black, silane, etc. but does contain silica. As can be seen, the scorch time of Composition 1A is 20 minutes, the t.sub.25 cure time is 26 minutes, the t.sub.90 cure time is 119 minutes and the t.sub.100 cure time is 150 minutes. These cure times are inordinately long, and in fact, the scorch time is also quite long; hence, such a composition would not be useful as a tire belt skim for a commercial application. Composition 1B adds four parts of zinc dimethacrylate to the recipe of Composition 1A. It can be seen that this actually increases the scorch time. This also increases the t.sub.25 cure time, although it does decrease the t.sub.90 and t.sub.100 cure times somewhat. Even these values are extremely high and again this composition would not be useful for commercial purposes as a tire belt skim.
The addition of various other additives with and without zinc dimethacrylate is shown in the various compositions of 1A through 1T. Of particular note are Compositions 1S and 1T. It can be seen in these compositions that when carbon black is added, as in Composition 1S, without the addition of zinc dimethacrylate, the scorch time decreases dramatically to seven minutes. Also, the t.sub.25 cure time is reduced to 11 minutes. However, the t.sub.90 and t.sub.100 cure times are still essentially as great as that of the composition of example A, and hence much too long for this composition to be commercially useful. However, as can be seen from Composition T, if 4 parts of zinc dimethacrylate are added the scorch time remains essentially unaffected, i.e. it stays at 7 minutes, and the t.sub.25 cure time is not changed significantly, changing only from 11 to 10 minutes which is not statistically significant. However, the t.sub.90 and t.sub.100 times are significantly reduced, t.sub.90 being reduced from 100 minutes to 27 minutes and t.sub.100 being reduced from 150 minutes to 40 minutes. This indicates that a tire belt skim made of a composition of natural rubber or butadiene rubber and which includes both carbon black and silica and also zinc dimethacrylate, with a sulphur curing agent, is commercially feasible.
Table II is comparable to Table I, i.e. it is the same base type composition for a tire belt skim, but in this instance all of the additional conventional components are added as a starting point and they are then omitted individually to determine the effect of omitting any one alone.
TABLE II__________________________________________________________________________Effect of Zinc Dimethacrylate on Tire Belt Skim-Type CompoundsFormulation: NR 100, Cab-o-sil MS7 30, ZnO 10, Stearic Acid 2.0, Oil 8,Crystex 6.25, CTP 0.1, DCBS 1.0, HiSil 5, Other Variations as__________________________________________________________________________Below:Compound No. 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F 2G 2H 2J__________________________________________________________________________Zinc Dimethacrylate 0 4 0 4 0 4 0 4 0Tackifier 3 3 0 0 3 3 3 3 3WS300 Antioxidant 2 2 2 2 0 0 2 2 2Resorcinol 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 0 0 2.4Cyrez 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 0HAF 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30Manobond 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78X50S (50% S169) 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5A189 Silane -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --Mooney Viscosity, ML-4', 100.degree. C. 61 59 68 63 53 61 61 52 65Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 8 7 9 8 8 6 7 6 8T.sub.max, inch lb. 49 57 52 59 49 55 50 58 38t.sub.s2, minutes 3.5 4.1 3.6 4.1 4.9 5.5 6.2 3.7 7.8t.sub.25, minutes 14 7 14 7 16 11 15 6 16t.sub.90, minutes 51 21 44 20 74 28 46 20 69t.sub.100, minutes 95 35 85 35 110 50 80 35 100__________________________________________________________________________Compound No. 2K 2L 2M 2N 2P 2Q 2R 2S 2T__________________________________________________________________________Zinc Dimethacrylate 4 0 4 0 4 0 4 0 4Tackifier 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3WS300 Antioxidant 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2Resorcinol 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4Cyrez 0 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3HAF 30 0 0 30 30 30 30 30 30Manobond 0.78 0.78 0.78 0 0 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78X50S (50% S169) 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 0 0 0 0A189 Silane -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0.26 0.26Mooney Viscosity, ML-4', 100.degree. C. 59 41 34 70 62 60 47 56 55Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 6 5 4 10 7 7 5 7 7T.sub.max, inch lb. 45 31 40 46 52 45 52 44 56t.sub.s2, minutes 6.4 8.7 5.3 4 5 4 6 4 4t.sub.25, minutes 10 20 9 17 9 17 10 15 8t.sub.90, minutes 27 51 24 98 28 60 26 51 23t.sub.100, minutes 45 90 38 140 52 105 45 95 40__________________________________________________________________________
As can be seen, Table II shows that with all of these additional additives, without the use of zinc dimethacrylate, the scorch time is significantly reduced. However, as shown in example 2A, the t.sub.100 time is still extremely high at 95 minutes and t.sub.90 is 51 minutes. Yet, by adding the zinc dimethacrylate as shown in Example 2B, t.sub.100 is reduced to 35 minutes, which is a dramatic reduction, and t.sub.90 is also dramatically reduced from 51 to 21 minutes while the scorch time t.sub.s2 is not changed significantly. The effect of the various other additives being omitted individually is shown in the various compositions.
With respect to Composition 2L, which does not contain any carbon black or zinc dimethacrylate, the scorch time is still significantly reduced to 8.7 minutes, although not nearly as low as most of the other compositions which contain carbon black. Composition 2J has the next longest scorch time. Again, in this case the t.sub.25, t.sub.90 and t.sub.100 cure times are significantly reduced by the addition of the zinc dimethacrylate as shown in Composition 2M, even in the absence of carbon black, indicating that the other additives which showed various reducing effects on scorch and cure times in Table I have a cumulative effect. Nevertheless, it is preferred that the carbon black be present for other reasons, as pointed out above, in the various belt skim compositions.
Table III below shows the effect of 2 and 4 phr of zinc dimethacrylate as compared to the absence of zinc dimethacrylate from the composition. Table III also compares zinc dimethacrylate to several other additives which are added rather than the zinc dimethacrylate.
TABLE III__________________________________________________________________________Formulation (phr):NR 100; ZnO 10.0; Stearic Acid 2.0; HAF 30; Cab-O-Sil MS7 30; Tackifier3.0; X50S 1.5; Manobond680-C 0.78; Oil 8.0;HiSil 5.0; Resorcinol 2.4; Cyrez 3.33; Wingstay 300 2.0; Crystex 6.25;CTP 0.10; DCBS 1.0; Other Ingredients as Below:Compound No. 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F 3G__________________________________________________________________________Ingredients, phrZinc Dimethacrylate 0 2 4 -- -- -- --PEG (Polyethylene glycol) -- -- -- 2 4 -- --DEG (Diethylene glycol) -- -- -- -- -- 4 --TEA (Triethanolamine) -- -- -- -- -- -- 4Physical PropertiesMooney Viscosity, ML-4', 100.degree. C. 71 67 64 68 66 68 68ODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb 6.9 7.7 7.7 8.4 8.1 8.2 8.2T.sub.max, inch lb 43.8 47.7 53.4 50.5 49.9 57.1 57.0t.sub.s2, minutes 5 6 6 6 6 3 2t.sub.90, minutes 42 27 26 36 34 27 34t.sub.100, minutes 88 51 44 68 64 54 61Yerzley, Tan Delta 0.319 0.288 0.277 0.293 0.297 0.296 0.292E*, MPa 20.6 18.6 20.7 20.6 20.7 23.7 21.8Hardness, Shore A 84 81 84 85 85 87 87Stress at 10% Strain, MPa 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.6 1.5Stress at 50% Strain, MPa 2.6 2.7 3.1 2.8 2.7 3.4 3.3Stress at 100% Strain, MPa 4.4 4.6 5.4 4.6 4.4 5.6 5.5Stress at 200% Strain, MPa 9.5 9.8 11.3 9.6 9.3 11.2 10.9Stress at 300% Strain, MPa 15.2 15.5 17.2 15.3 14.9 17.3 16.5Tensile Strength, MPa 22.2 22.3 20.9 21.7 20.6 20.9 20.9Elongation at Break, % 434 432 370 419 409 368 388Energy to Break, MPa 50 50 41 47 44 40 43Tear Strength at 25.degree. C., kJ/m.sup.2 45 .+-. 18 56 .+-. 30 60 .+-. 27 45 .+-. 20 53 .+-. 28 64 .+-. 44 .+-. 20Tear Strength at 100.degree. C., kJ/m.sup.2 41 .+-. 9 48 .+-. 13 50 .+-. 13 54 .+-. 16 65 .+-. 20 47 .+-. 11 32 .+-. 13Adhesion, Wire S288, 2 + 2 .times. 0.25 mmPullout Force, N (Coverage)Unaged -- 526 .+-. 14 577 .+-. 28 530 .+-. 5 503 .+-. 19 493 .+-. 14 -- (10) (9) (10) (10) (10)Aged, 7 days, 93.degree. C., 95% Relative 424 .+-. 22 450 .+-. 22 497 .+-. 38 402 .+-. 29 401 .+-. 25 249 .+-. 12 91 .+-. 4Humidity (9) (10) (8) (7) (6) (4) (1)Adhesion, Wire S291, 2 + 2 .times. 0.28 mmPullout Force, N (Rubber Coverage)Unaged 624 .+-. 18 593 .+-. 25 615 .+-. 32 618 .+-. 32 609 .+-. 30 -- -- (9) (10) (9) (9) (9)Aged, 7 days, 93.degree. C., 95% Relative 485 .+-. 22 502 .+-. 15 527 .+-. 30 466 .+-. 21 416 .+-. 39 -- --Humidity (9) (10) (10) (7) (6)Aged, 14 days, 93.degree. C., 95% Relative 450 .+-. 15 460 .+-. 54 483 .+-. 57 381 .+-. 30 331 .+-. 35 -- --Humidity (8) (8) (8) (6) (5)__________________________________________________________________________
The first thing that is noticeable in Compositions 3B and 3C, which contain 2 and 4 parts per hundred of zinc dimethacrylate, respectively, and especially in Composition 3C, is that t.sub.100 is significantly improved over that of any other addition. Also the properties given indicate that the adhesion obtained when the DEG and TEA are used as shown in Compositions 3F and 3G are totally unacceptable. The aged pullout especially for the wire S291 is significantly better with the zinc dimethacrylate compositions 3B and 3C as compared to any of the other compositions containing either PEG, DEG or TEA. Thus, it can be seen that the use of zinc dimethacrylate and silica in sulfur cured compositions of natural rubber and butadiene rubbers, in combination with carbon black, improves the tear strength and gives a proper modulus while the zinc dimethacrylate in the presence of carbon black significantly lowers the cure time while further maintaining the scorch time either unaffected or elevating it slightly. The tire cord adhesion is comparable to the control compound 3A. Thus, these outstanding characteristics make this particular composition ideally suited for steel cord reinforced tire belt skims or other components.
Table IV shows the effect of the addition of zinc dimethacrylate at levels of 3, 4 and 6 parts per 100 of rubber.
TABLE IV__________________________________________________________________________Effect of Zinc Dimethacrylate Co-activator on Properties of NaturalRubber CompoundsContaining Silica and Carbon Black FillersFormulation (phr):NR 100, ZnO 10.0; Stearic Acid 2.0; Cab-o-Sil MS7 30; HAF 30; Oil 8.0;Tackifier3.0; X50S 1.5; Manobond 680-C 0.78; HiSil 5.0; Resorcinol 2.4; Cyrez3.33; Wingstay300 2.0; Crystex 6.25; CTP 0.10; DCBS 1.0; Other Ingredients as Below:Compound No. 4A 4B 4C 4D__________________________________________________________________________Ingredients, phrZinc dimethacrylate 0 3 4 6Oscillating Disc Rheameter at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 5.0 7.4 6.9 7.2T.sub.max, inch lb. 43 50 52 57t.sub.s2, minutes 5 5 5 5t.sub.90, minutes 51 24 23 24t.sub.100, minutes 80 40 39 42Physical Properties at 25.degree. C.Yerzley, Tan Delta 0.312 0.230 0.252 0.321E*, MPa 16.1 18.5 19.1 24.4Hardness, Shore A 80 79 81 82Stress at 10% Strain, MPa 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2Stress at 50% Strain, MPa 2.1 2.4 2.6 3.1Stress at 100% Strain, MPa 3.7 4.3 4.5 5.6Stress at 200% Strain, MPa 8.2 9.4 9.5 11.8Stress at 300% Strain, MPa 13.6 15.3 15.1 17.9Tensile Strength, MPa 21.1 21.3 20.7 20.1Elongation at Break, % 445 401 402 339Energy to Break, MPa 46.7 42.3 42.4 35.2Tear Strength at 25.degree. C., kJ/m.sup.2 79 .+-. 28 64 .+-. 32 62 .+-. 32 37 .+-. 22Adhesion, Wire S303Pullout Force, N, (Coverage)Unaged 1346 .+-. 61(7) 1303 .+-. 47(7) 1165 .+-. 61(6) --Aged, 7 days, 93.degree. C., 95% Relative 1005 .+-. 27(6) 981 .+-. 41(6) 965 .+-. 24(6) --Humidity__________________________________________________________________________
As can be seen in Table IV, there is not much significant change or improvement in cure time among the levels at 3, 4 or 6 phr of the zinc dimethacrylate although it does increase the modulus, especially above the level of 4 phr. It is noted, however, that the tear strength of the composition using 6 phr is significantly reduced over that using 3 and 4 phr; hence, the preferred amount of zinc dimethacrylate is in the range of 2 to 4 phr and more preferably about 3 phr to get optimum results although up to 12 phr can be used.
Table V is a comparison of the use of zinc dimethacrylate and zinc monomethacrylate as additives in silica filled NR and styrene butadiene rubber. For NR, the dimethacrylate is significantly better than the monomethacrylate to reduce t.sub.90 and t.sub.100, hence zinc dimethacrylate is the preferred addition. It should be noted however that since these experimental compositions did not contain carbon black or other optional additives as in Tables I and II, the scorch time t.sub.s2 and cure time t.sub.25 increased significantly with the addition of zinc dimethacrylate. For styrene butadiene rubber, neither the zinc monomethacrylate nor the dimethacrylate were very effective to reduce cure times at least at the levels studied, but the dimethacrylate was marginally better in reducing t.sub.90.
TABLE V__________________________________________________________________________Evaluation of the Behavior of Zinc Monomethacrylate andZinc Dimethacrylate in Natural Rubber and Styrene Butadiene RubberCompounds GENERAL TIRE VARIANTS UNIROYAL PAT. NO. 4,192,790 OF COMPOUNDS A-DCompound No. 5A 5B 5C 5D 5E 5F 5G 5H__________________________________________________________________________Ingredients, phrSMR 5 CV (Natural Rubber) 100 100 -- -- 100 -- 100 100SBR 1500 -- -- 100 100 -- 100 -- --Hisil 243 LD 50 50 55 55 50 55 50 50Zinc Oxide 3.0 5.0 3.0 3.0 5.0 3.0 5.0 5.0Stearic Acid 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0Sulfur 2.5 2.5 1.75 2.5 2.5 1.75 2.5 2.5MBTS 1.0 1.0 -- -- 1.0 0 1.0 1.0TBBS -- -- 1.0 1.0 -- 1.0 -- --Zinc Monomethacrylate -- 2.0 0 2.0 -- -- 4 --Zinc Dimethacrylate -- -- -- -- 2.0 2.0 -- 4Mooney Viscosity, ML4', 100.degree. C. 111 76 149 126 62 131 61 67Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 19.0 16.0 24.9 15.3 9.0 15.1 7.1 7.8T.sub.max, inch lb. 42.0 36.0 44.9 33.0 23.0 40.0 24.0 27.0t.sub.s2, minutes 8 14 37 39 18 33 19 18t.sub.25, minutes 10 20 46 57 22 44 33 22t.sub.90, minutes 94 120 146 141 46 120 48 48t.sub.100, minutes 130 160 170 160 70 160 70 70__________________________________________________________________________
Table VI is another table indicating the various properties with different amounts of different additives including precipitated silica, Ultrasil VN3.
TABLE VI__________________________________________________________________________Effect of Type of Accelerator and Silica upon the Action of Co-Activatorsin Natural Rubber Belt Skim CompoundsFormulation (phr): NR 100, ZnO 10.0; Stearic Acid 2.0; HAF 30; Tackifier3.0; X50S 1.5; Manobond 680-C 0.78;HiSil 5.0; Resorcinol 2.4; Cyrez 3.33; Oil 8.0; Wingstay 300 2.0; Crystex6.25; CTP 0.10; Other Ingredients as Below:Compound No. 6A 6B1 6B2 6C 6D 6E 6F 6G 6H 6J 6K 6L 6M__________________________________________________________________________Ingredients, phrZinc Dimethacrylate -- 2.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 -- 4.0 -- 4.0 -- 2.0 3.0 4.0TBBS -- -- -- -- -- 0.69 0.69 1.0 1.0 -- -- -- --DCBS 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 -- -- -- -- 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0Cab-O-Sil MS7 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 -- -- -- --Ultrasil VN3 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 30 30 30 30Mooney Viscosity, ML-4', 100.degree. C. 62 61 61 60 60 65 60 68 61 64 60 58 59Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 8 8 7 7 7 8 7 9 7 8 7 7 7T.sub.max, inch lb. 47 51 52 54 57 44 52 49 53 49 53 55 57t.sub.s2, minutes 4 5 5 5 4 4 4 3 4 6 6 6 5t.sub.90, minutes 47 23 24 23 23 64 24 45 23 35 27 26 26t.sub.100, minutes 95 49 50 42 40 120 46 95 44 78 45 42 43Physical Properties at 25.degree. C.Hardness, Shore A 81 81 82 82 83 81 80 80 80 82 80 80 84Stress at 10% Strain, MPa 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.2Stress at 50% Strain, MPa 2.2 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.7 2.2 2.3 2.3 2.2 2.3 2.5 2.6 2.9Stress at 100% Strain, MPa 3.6 4.0 3.9 4.3 4.7 3.4 3.8 3.7 3.6 3.8 4.3 4.6 5.1Stress at 200% Strain, MPa 7.6 8.3 8.0 9.0 9.9 7.0 8.1 7.8 7.7 7.9 8.9 9.6 10.6Stress at 300% Strain, MPa 12.6 13.6 13.1 14.4 15.8 11.5 13.3 12.8 12.8 12.8 14.2 15.3 16.4Tensile Strength, MPa 21.3 21.5 20.8 21.4 21.5 19.8 20.4 21.3 21.4 20.2 20.2 20.2 20.0Elongation at Break, % 472 451 449 435 408 483 436 476 464 454 417 391 370Energy to Break, MPa 50 48 47 47 45 48 44 51 49 46 43 40 38__________________________________________________________________________
Table VII shows the effect of zinc dimethacrylate and/or diethylene glycol on rubber that contains only 5 phr silica as a part of the RFS package.
TABLE VII__________________________________________________________________________Formulation (phr): NR 100; ZnO 10.0; Stearic Acid 2.0; HAF 60; Oil 8.0;Tackifier 3.0;Manobond 680-C 0.78; HiSil 5.0 Wingstay 300 2.0, Resorcinol 2.4; Cyrez3.33;Crystex 6.25; CTP 0.10; DCBS 1.0, Other ingredients as below:Compound No. 7A 7B 7C 7D 7E 7F__________________________________________________________________________Zinc Dimethacrylate 0 2 4 0 2 4Diethylene Glycol -- -- -- 4 4 4Physical PropertiesMooney Viscosity, ML4, 100.degree. C. 71 70 67 65 63 61ODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb 8.5 8.4 7.6 7.9 7.7 7.2T.sub.max, inch lb 55.7 61.3 63.7 56.5 60.1 59.9t.sub.s2, minutes 4 4 4 3 3 3t.sub.90, minutes 23 26 27 20 20 21t.sub.100, minutes 45 43 44 42 34 38Yerzley, Tan Delta 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.29 0.32 0.32E*, MPa 23.3 24.4 26.5 25.3 25.9 27.1Hardness, Shore A 85 87 87 85 87 87Stress at 10% Strain, MPa 1.3 1.5 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.6Stress at 50% Strain, MPa 3.4 4.1 4.3 3.7 4.1 4.3Stress at 100% Strain, MPa 6.4 7.9 8.1 6.9 7.5 7.8Stress at 200% Strain, MPa 13.8 16.9 16.1 14.6 15.0 --Stress at 300% Strain, MPa -- -- -- -- -- --Tensile Strength, MPa 19.8 19.6 19.2 18.4 16.2 15.6Elongation at Break, % 297 255 249 259 220 204Energy to Break, MPa 30.6 26.5 25.5 24.8 18.9 17.0Tear Strength at 25.degree. C., kJ/m.sup.2 22 .+-. 7 16 .+-. 5 13 .+-. 3 18 .+-. 6 18 .+-. 5 20 .+-. 6Tear Strength at 100.degree. C., kJ/m.sup.2 12 .+-. 5 8 .+-. 2 6 .+-. 1 8 .+-. 3 9 .+-. 2Adhesion, Wire S-291, 2 + 2 .times. 0.28 mm 8 .+-. 2Pullout Force, N, (Rubber Coverage)Unaged 623 .+-. 35(10) 578 .+-. 30(10) 433 .+-. 44(5) 576 .+-. 32(10) 556 .+-. 38(9) 337 .+-. 16(4)Aged, 7 days, 93.degree. C., 95% Relative 591 .+-. 22(7) 447 .+-. 47(6) 302 .+-. 37(3) 296 .+-. 25(9) 235 .+-. 29(2) 162 .+-. 22(1)HumidityAged, 14 days, 93.degree. C., 95% Relative 408 .+-. 39(7) 343 .+-. 36(6) 248 .+-. 16(5) 238 .+-. 34(4) 154 .+-. 14(1) 126 .+-. 19(1)Humidity__________________________________________________________________________
As can be seen in Table VII, in the absence of significant amounts of silica, the tear strength is significantly lower than that obtained with high levels of silica and zinc dimethacrylate. Also, the zinc dimethacrylate does not significantly lower the cure times nor affect the scorch times and it seems to deteriorate adhesion somewhat.
Referring now to Table VIII, the properties obtained by the use of various metallic salts of low molecular weight unsaturated organic acids including zinc dimethacrylate is shown. As can be seen from this table, each of these work to some significant extent in lowering cure times of compositions containing relatively higher levels of silica than used conventionally, and none adversely affect scorch time t.sub.s2. The calcium and barium salts do not seem to be as effective as the zinc salts to increase the modulus.
TABLE VIII__________________________________________________________________________Effect of Various Metal Salts of Acrylic andMethacrylic Acid in Tire Belt Skim Type CompoundsFormulation (phr): NR100; ZnO 10; Stearic acid 2.0; Cab-o-Sil 30; HAF 30;Oil 8.0; X50S 1.5; Manobond 680-C 0.78.;Hisil 5.0; Resorcinol 2.4; Cyrez 3.33; Wingstay 300 2.0; Crystex 6.25;CTP 0.10 0.10; DCBS 1.0;Other ingredients as below:__________________________________________________________________________Compound No. 8A 8B 8C 8D 8E 8F 8G__________________________________________________________________________Ingredients, phr (moles)Zinc dimethacrylate 2 (0.0084) 3 (0.0126) 4 (0.0169) 6 (0.0252) -- --Calcium dimethacrylate -- -- -- -- -- 1.7 (0.0084) 2.5 (0.0169)Barium dimethacrylate -- -- -- -- -- -- --Zinc diacrylate -- -- -- -- -- -- --Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 8.0 8.0 7.4 6.9 7.2 3.7 3.1T.sub.max, inch lb. 43 48 50 52 57 49 47t.sub.s2, minutes 5 6 5 5 5 4 6t.sub.90, minutes 51 27 24 23 24 25 24t.sub.100, minutes 90 51 40 39 42 58 43Physical Properties at 25.degree. C.Hardness, Shore A 80 81 81 82 83 83 83Yerzley Oscillograph Tan Delta 0.312 0.288 0.230 0.252 0.321 0.401 0.399Dynamic Modulus, MPa 16.1 18.6 18.5 19.1 20.4 18.7 16.9Stress at 10% Strain, MPa 0.9 1.2 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.1Stress at 50% Strain, MPa 2.1 2.7 2.4 2.6 3.1 2.3 2.3Stress at 100% Strain, MPa 3.7 4.6 4.3 4.5 5.6 3.7 3.7Stress at 200% Strain, MPa 8.2 9.8 9.4 9.5 11.8 7.5 7.7Stress at 300% Strain, MPa 13.6 15.5 15.3 15.1 17.9 12.4 12.8Tensile Strength, MPa 21.1 22.3 21.3 20.7 20.1 19.9 20.1Elongation at Break (%) 445 432 401 402 339 453 445Energy to Break, MJ/m.sup.3 47 50 42 42 35 45 45__________________________________________________________________________Compound No. 8H 8I 8J 8K 8L 8M__________________________________________________________________________Ingredients, phr (moles)Zinc dimethacrylate -- -- -- -- --Calcium dimethacrylate 7.7 (.0365) -- -- -- -- --Barium dimethacrylate -- 2.6 (0.0084) 5.2 (0.0169) 11.2 (0.0365) -- --Zinc diacrylate -- -- -- -- 1.7 (0.0084) 3.5 (0.0169)Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 2.6 4.9 5.4 3.1 4.1 3.8T.sub.max, inch lb. 48 50 50 50 46 48t.sub.s2, minutes 7 5 5 6 6 6t.sub.90, minutes 26 30 28 25 32 27t.sub.100, minutes 48 62 58 46 71 48Physical Properties at 25.degree. C.Hardness, Shore A 85 84 84 83 81 82Yerzley Oscillograph Tan Delta 0.401 0.354 0.353 0.353 0.338 0.345Dynamic Modulus, MPa 18.1 18.6 18.6 19.0 17.0 16.5Stress at 10% Strain, MPa 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2Stress at 50% Strain, MPa 2.5 2.4 2.4 2.6 2.3 2.4Stress at 100% Strain, MPa 3.9 3.9 3.9 4.2 3.6 4.0Stress at 200% Strain, MPa 7.7 8.2 8.2 8.4 7.4 8.1Stress at 300% Strain, MPa 12.4 13.3 13.4 13.4 12.1 13.1Tensile Strength, MPa 18.9 19.1 20.3 18.3 19.1 20.9Elongation at Break (%) 441 418 437 407 452 465Energy to Break, MJ/m.sup.3 43 41 45 39 44 50__________________________________________________________________________
Table IX shows a comparison of the invention utilizing natural rubber (NR) and styrene butadiene rubber. As can be seen, the invention is effective using styrene butadiene rubber but not to the same extent as when natural rubber is used.
TABLE IX__________________________________________________________________________Effect of Zinc Dimethacrylate on Cure Characteristics of NR BeltSkim Type Compounds with MBTS Accelerator and SBR Belt Skim TypeCompoundswith DCBS AcceleratorFormulation (phr): CAB-O-SIL MS7 30; HAF 30; Silane X50S (50% si 69) 1.5:Manobond 680C 0.78;Zinc Oxide 10.0; Stearic Acid 2.0; Oil 8.0; Tackifier 3.0; Hisil 5.0;Wingstay 300 2.0;Resorcinol 2.4; Cyrez 3.33; Crystex 6.25; CTP 0.1; Other Ingredients asbelow.Compound No. 9A 9B 9C 9D 9E 9F 9G 9H__________________________________________________________________________Ingredients, phrNR (MV5) 100 100 100 100 -- -- -- --SBR 1500 -- -- -- -- 100 100 100 100DCBS -- -- -- -- 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0MBTS 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 -- -- -- --Zinc Dimethacrylate -- 2 3 4 -- 2 3 4Curing CharacteristicsMooney Viscosity, ML-4', 100.degree. C. 54 62 60 55 75 78 76 78ODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 6.4 7.1 7.0 6.4 7.7 7.7 7.4 7.4T.sub.max, inch lb. 40 52 53 57 58 65 66 66t.sub.s2, minutes 3 3 3 3 16 9 8 7t.sub.25, minutes 8 6 5 5 31 15 14 13t.sub.90, minutes 48 20 18 18 71 49 44 43t.sub.100, minutes 95 45 35 32 105 95 80 85Physical Properties at 25.degree. C.Hardness, Shore A 79 82 82 84 83 84 85 85Stress at 10% Strain, MPa 0.9 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.4 1.4 1.4Stress at 50% Strain, MPa 2.0 2.6 2.6 3.0 2.9 3.3 3.3 3.3Stress at 100% Strain, MPa 3.4 4.3 4.5 5.1 5.3 5.8 5.9 6.0Stress at 200% Strain, MPa 7.2 8.8 9.3 10.2 12.1 12.7 12.6 12.7Stress at 300% Strain, MPa 11.7 13.9 14.5 15.5 -- -- -- --Tensile Strength, MPa 17.3 20.4 20.1 19.5 16.2 16.6 15.8 16.3Elongation at Break, % 431 430 419 384 259 258 250 256Energy to Break, MJ/m.sup.3 38 45 44 40 21 22 21 22__________________________________________________________________________
As shown earlier in Tables I and II, it has also been found that the addition of silanes in combination with zinc dimethacrylate has a beneficial effect on the curing characteristics of rubber having silica, to some extent when used in place of carbon black (see Table I); but especially when used in addition to carbon black. This is shown in Tables X and X below.
TABLE X__________________________________________________________________________Effect of Zinc Dimethacrylate and 3-Mercaptopropyltrimethoxy Silane(A-189) on Tire Belt Skim-TypeCompounds with Silica. Formulation (phr): NR 100; Zinc Oxide 10; StearicAcid 2; Cab-o-sil 30; HAF 30;Tackifier 3; Oil 8; Resorcinol 2.4; Manobond 0.78; Crystex 6.25; DCBS 1;CTP 0.1; HiSil 5;Other ingredients as below:__________________________________________________________________________Compound No. 10A 10B 10C 10D 10E 10F 10G 10H 10J__________________________________________________________________________Ingredients, phror (moles)Zinc Dimethacrylate -- 2 3 4 6 -- -- -- --3-Mercaptopropyl- -- -- -- -- -- 0.26 0.51 1.53 3.32trimethoxy silane (.0013) (.0026) (.0078) (.0169)Mooney Viscosity, 60 53 56 47 52 56 59 64 62ML-4', 100.degree. C.Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 7.4 5.9 5.9 5.0 5.5 7.4 7.9 8.4 7.8T.sub.max, inch lb. 45 50 49 52 57 44 48 48 49t.sub.s2, minutes 4 5 6 6 5 4 3 3 2t.sub.25, minutes 17 11 11 10 9 15 13 8 4t.sub.90, minutes 60 30 27 26 26 51 46 30 19t.sub.100, minutes 105 65 50 45 40 95 95 70 50Physical Propertiesat 25.degree. C.Tan Delta 0.347 0.349 0.321 0.339 0.305 0.381 0.367 0.378 0.347E*, MPa 21.0 20.8 18.5 19.7 22.9 21.8 24.6 21.6 21.7Hardness, Shore A 80 80 81 82 85 80 81 81 80Stress at 10% Strain, 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.1MPaStress at 50% Strain, 2.4 2.6 2.5 2.8 3.1 2.2 2.6 2.5 2.7MPaStress at 100% Strain, 3.8 4.1 4.1 4.6 4.9 3.6 4.3 4.4 4.8MPaStress at 200% Strain, 8.0 8.3 8.3 9.2 9.7 7.7 9.2 9.7 10.6MPaStress at 300% Strain, 12.8 13.2 13.2 14.4 15.3 12.6 14.5 15.6 16.6MPaTensile Strength, 18.0 17.6 19.1 18.9 17.8 18.4 18.6 22.2 20.7MPaElongation at Break, 413 401 422 410 350 425 385 427 379Energy to Break, 38.1 36.7 41.0 38.4 32.3 39.4 36.9 48.4 40.3MPa__________________________________________________________________________Compound No. 10K 10L 10M 10N 10P 10Q 10R 10S__________________________________________________________________________Ingredients, phror (moles)Zinc Dimethacrylate 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 43-Mercaptopropyl- 0.26 0.51 1.53 3.32 0.26 0.51 1.53 3.32trimethoxy silane (.0013) (.0026) (.0078) (.0169) (.0013) (.0026) (.0078) (.0169)Mooney Viscosity, 56 54 58 62 55 57 56 64ML-4', 100.degree. C.Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 6.9 6.5 7.2 7.9 6.6 6.7 7.1 8.6T.sub.max, inch lb. 50 50 54 61 56 38 61 68t.sub.s2, minutes 4 4 3 2 4 4 3 2t.sub.25, minutes 9 9 7 5 8 8 7 5t.sub.90, minutes 24 25 21 18 23 23 21 20t.sub.100, minutes 50 47 42 38 40 38 40 40Physical Propertiesat 25.degree. C.Tan Delta 0.366 0.314 0.362 0.341 0.383 0.346 0.345 0.334E*, MPa 19.6 19.0 21.9 25.6 20.0 21.8 24.3 31.0Hardness, Shore A 81 79 82 85 82 82 82 87Stress at 10% Strain, 1.1 1.1 1.4 1.6 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.8MPaStress at 50% Strain, 2.4 2.4 3.1 3.6 2.7 3.1 3.2 4.0MPaStress at 100% Strain, 4.1 4.2 5.3 6.3 4.5 5.3 5.3 6.8MPaStress at 200% Strain, 8.5 9.0 11.0 12.9 9.3 10.9 10.9 13.6MPaStress at 300% Strain, 13.5 14.4 16.5 18.9 14.5 16.4 16.6 --MPaTensile Strength, 19.6 20.4 21.3 20.5 19.5 20.6 20.1 18.5MPaElongation at Break, 426 417 400 331 405 388 368 278Energy to Break, 42.8 43.1 45.3 36.4 41.1 42.4 38.8 27.6MPa__________________________________________________________________________
TABLE XI__________________________________________________________________________Effect of Zinc Dimethacrylate and Bis-(3-[triethoxysilyl]-propyl)-tetrasulfane on Tire Belt Skim-Type Compounds with SilicaFormulation (phr): NR 100; Zinc Oxide 10; Stearic Acid 2;Cab-o-sil 30; HAF 30; Tackifier 3; Oil 8; Resorcinol 2.4;Manobond .78; Crystex 6.25; DCBS 1; CTP 0.1; HiSil 5;WS300 2.0; Cyrez 3.3; Other Ingredients as below:__________________________________________________________________________Compound No. 11A 11B 11C 11D 11E 11F 11G 11H__________________________________________________________________________Ingredients, phror (moles)Zinc Dimethacrylate -- 2 3 4 6 -- -- --Bis-(3-[triethoxysilyl]- -- -- -- -- -- 1.5 3.0 4.5propyl)-tetrasulfane (0.0013) (0.0026) (0.0039)50% Active = x 50 SMooney Viscosity, 60 53 56 47 52 61 70 61ML-4', 100.degree. C.Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 7.4 5.9 5.9 5.0 5.5 8.0 8.6 7.6T.sub.max, inch lb. 45 50 49 52 57 46 44 50t.sub.s2, minutes 4 5 6 6 5 4 5 4t.sub.25, minutes 17 11 11 10 9 14 5 12t.sub.90, minutes 60 30 27 26 26 45 40 33t.sub.100, minutes 105 65 50 45 40 85 80 70Physical Propertiesat 25.degree. C.Tan Delta 0.347 0.349 0.321 0.339 0.305 0.317 0.331 0.320E*, MPa 21.0 20.8 18.5 19.7 22.9 20.5 18.3 25.4Hardness, Shore A 80 80 81 82 85 83 80 81Stress at 10% Strain, 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.2 1.0 1.1MPaStress at 50% Strain, 2.4 2.6 2.5 2.8 3.1 2.6 2.4 2.7MPaStress at 100% Strain, 3.8 4.1 4.1 4.6 4.9 4.3 4.1 4.9MPaStress at 200% Strain, 8.0 8.3 8.3 9.2 9.7 9.3 9.2 10.7MPaStress at 300% Strain, 12.8 13.2 13.2 14.4 15.3 14.7 15.2 16.6MPaTensile Strength, 18.0 17.6 19.1 18.9 17.8 19.8 20.4 20.3MPAElongation at Break, 413 401 422 410 350 405 393 375Energy to Break, 38.1 36.7 41.0 38.4 32.3 41.2 39.7 39.4MPa__________________________________________________________________________Compound No. 11J 11K 11L 11M 11N 11P 11Q__________________________________________________________________________Ingredients, phror (moles)Zinc Dimethacrylate -- 2 3 4 6 3 4Bis-(3-[triethoxysilyl]- 9.7 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 3.0 3.0propyl)-tetrasulfane (0.0083) (0.0013) (0.0013) (0.0013) (0.0013) (0.0026) (0.0026)50% Active = x 50 SMooney Viscosity, 61 67 63 60 63 64 68ML-4', 100.degree. C.Curing CharacteristicsODR at 150.degree. C.T.sub.min, inch lb. 7.7 7.7 7.4 6.9 7.2 7.4 8.2T.sub.max, inch lb. 55 48 50 52 57 54 58t.sub.s2, minutes 4 6 5 5 5 5 4t.sub.25, minutes 11 11 9 9 8 8 8t.sub.90, minutes 29 27 24 23 24 22 23t.sub.100, minutes 60 51 40 39 42 42 41Physical Propertiesat 25.degree. C.Tan Delta 0.347 0.288 0.230 0.252 0.321 0.269 0.280E*, MPa 28.9 18.6 18.5 19.1 24.4 21.5 24.0Hardness, Shore A 85 81 79 81 82 83 84Stress at 10% Strain, 1.4 1.2 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.3MPaStress at 50% Strain, 3.6 2.7 2.4 2.6 3.1 2.8 3.2MPaStress at 100% Strain, 6.2 4.6 4.3 4.5 5.6 4.9 5.6MPaStress at 200% Strain, 12.8 9.8 9.4 9.5 11.8 10.5 11.6MPaStress at 300% Strain, -- 15.5 15.3 15.1 17.9 16.4 17.6MPaTensile Strength, 18.0 22.3 21.3 20.7 20.1 19.9 20.4MPAElongation at Break, 289 432 401 402 339 363 351Energy to Break, 27.9 50.0 42.3 42.4 35.2 37.2 37.5MPa__________________________________________________________________________
Tables X and XI show that silanes reduce cure time and increase moduli and the amount of zinc dimethacrylate added can be reduced by the addition of silanes.
All the rubber compounds were mixed by conventional means on a Banbury mixer in a two stage or three stage mix. A two roll mill may also be used. In most cases, the rubber, fillers (carbon black, silica), stearic acid, oil, zinc oxide, and some other optional ingredients were mixed in the first stage at temperatures ranging from 260.degree. F. to 320.degree. F. Some optional ingredients, e.g. resorcinol, were added in the second stage. The curatives were always added in the final stage where drop temperatures were about 190.degree. F. The zinc dimethacrylate was added in the second or final stage but in some cases it could also be added in the first stage although more might be necessary to achieve the same results on desired properties.
Thus, it can be seen that an extremely useful composition for reinforced rubber products, such as tire belts can be provided in a sulphur curing butadiene or natural rubber system by the addition of both carbon black and silica in combination with the use of a metallic salt of a low molecular weight unsaturated organic acid such as zinc dimethacrylate. Optionally, certain other additives such as silanes, can be added to the composition which will contribute to further modifications of certain properties such as scorch time, total cure time, modulus and tear properties including fatigue crack propagation resistance. Tire belts formed from this skim utilizing brass plated steel cords are one preferred end product use of this composition. However, other products such as conveyor belts and hoses which are reinforced by steel or other reinforcing cords and other rubber products without steel reinforcements can be manufactured as end products.
While several embodiments of this invention have been shown and described, various adaptations can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Number	Name	Date
3823122	Schuh et al.	Jul 1974
4056269	Pollitt et al.	Nov 1977
4192790	McKinstry et al.	Mar 1980
4441946	Sharma	Apr 1984
4495326	Donatelli et al.	Jan 1985
4529770	Hayes et al.	Jul 1985
4611810	Kamata et al.	Sep 1986
4713409	Hayes et al.	Dec 1987
4929684	Roland et al.	May 1990

Number	Date	Country
WO9008170	Jul 1990	WOX
1364138	Aug 1974	GBX

Elastomeric compositions and tire belt structure

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