Patent ID: 6634397
Filing Date: 2003-10-21
Classification: B60C,Y10T

Abstract:
A high performance pneumatic tire (10) comprising a pair of substantially parallel annular beads (14), a single radial ply carcass (12) wrapped around said beads (14), a tread (20) disposed radially outwardly of the crown region (28) of the carcass (12), sidewalls (22) disposed between said tread (20) and said beads (14), a belt assembly (16) including at least one belt ply interposed between the tread portion and the crown region (28) in circumferential surrounding relation to the carcass (12), the at least one belt ply comprising reinforcement cords extending parallel to one another, and said carcass ply (12) is made with steel reinforcement cords and a floating reinforcement ply (24) bridges a crown portion (28) and a sidewall portion (26) of the carcass (12) radially inward of said carcass ply (12), wherein said floating reinforcement ply (24) is selected from the group consisting of(a) gum rubber having a 100% modulus of 5-6 N/mm2 and a gauge of 0.075 to 0.175 inch (1.905 to 4.445 mm) when said tire has an aspect ratio of less than 0.5, and (a1) a gauge of 0.02 to 0.085 inch (0.508 to 2.159 mm) when said tire has an aspect ratio of 0.5 to 0.8, and (b) short fiber reinforced gum rubber, wherein the short fiber reinforcement comprises 1-2 parts fiber per hundred parts rubber having a 100% modulus of 7-8 N/mm2 and a gauge of 0.02 to 0.06 inch (0.508 to 1.524 mm) when the aspect ratio of the tire is 0.5 to 0.8, and (b1) a gauge of 0.04 to 0.10 inch (1.01 to 2.54 mm) when the aspect of the tire is less than 0.5, and wherein gum rubber in said floating reinforcement ply (24) contains natural rubber and has a tensile strength of 15 to 25 N/mm2 and an elongation at break of 300 to 450%.