Patent ID: 7550540

Claim:
A rubber composition comprising: (a) at least one rubber component, (b) at least one particulate filler and (c) at least one mercaptofunctional silane composition comprising at least one organofunctional silane selected from the group consisting of: (i) mercaptosilane possessing at least one hydroxyalkoxysilyl group and/or a cyclic dialkoxysilyl group, (ii) hydrocarbyl and/or heterocarbyl silane possessing at least one hydroxyalkoxysilyl group and/or a cyclic dialkoxysilyl group, (iii) mercaptosilane dimer in which the silicon atoms of the mercaptosilane units are bonded to each other through a bridging dialkoxy group, each silane unit optionally possessing at least one hydroxyalkoxysilyl group and/or a cyclic dialkoxysilyl group, (iv) hydrocarbyl and/or heterocarbyl silane dimer in which the silicon atoms of the hydrocarbyl and/or heterocarbyl silane units are bonded to each other through a bridging dialkoxy group, each silane unit optionally possessing at least one hydroxyalkoxysilyl group and/or a cyclic dialkoxysilyl group, (v) silane dimer possessing a mercaptosilane unit the silicon atom of which is bonded to the silicon atom of a hydrocarbyl and/or heterocarbyl silane unit through a bridging dialkoxy group, each silane unit optionally possessing at least one hydroxyalkoxysilyl group and/or a cyclic dialkoxysilyl group, (vi) mercaptosilane oligomer in which the silicon atoms of adjacent mercaptosilane units are bonded to each other through a bridging dialkoxy group, the terminal mercaptosilane units possessing at least one hydroxyalkoxysilyl group and/or a cyclic dialkoxysilyl group, (vii) hydrocarbyl and/or heterocarbyl silane oligomer in which the silicon atoms of adjacent hydrocarbyl and/or heterocarbyl silane units are bonded to each other through a bridging dialkoxy group, the terminal mercaptosilane units possessing at least one hydroxyalkoxysilyl group and/or a cyclic dialkoxysilyl group, and (viii) silane oligomer possessing at least one mercaptosilane unit and at least one hydrocarbyl and/or heterocarbyl silane unit, the silicon atoms of adjacent silane units being bonded to each other through a bridging dialkoxy group, the terminal silane units possessing at least one hydroxyalkoxysilyl group and/or a cyclic dialkoxysilyl group, with the provisio that, where the composition contains one or more of (i), (iii) and (vi), the composition additionally contains one or more of (ii), (iv), (v), (vii) and (viii), and where the composition contains one or more of (ii), (iv) and (vii), the composition additionally contains one or more of (i), (iii), (v), (vi) and (viii).