Abstract: A tire component including a tire tread that comprises a vulcanized rubber, a rubber filler, and a modified rubber, where the modified rubber i) contains pendent or functional groups that contain carboxylic acid or anhydride groups, ii) has pendently grafted thereto a polymerized metal salt of an unsaturated carboxylic acid, or iii) contains both i and ii. The use of such modified rubbers in tire components advantageously increases the G? of such components.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
April 4, 2002
Date of Patent:
May 27, 2008
Assignee:
Bridgestone Corporation
Inventors:
Chenchy Jeffrey Lin, William Hergenrother, Daniel Graves, Georg G. A. Böhm