Abstract
Treads made with emulsion styrene-butadiene copolymer (SBR), solution SBR, polybutadiene (BR), and a 60/40 emulsion SBR/BR mixture were built as four-way tread sections on G78-15 belted bias tires, which were driven over both concrete and gravel-textured highways and on a small, circular, concrete test track. The tires were front mounted. When driven on concrete highway, all except the BR tread had either crumbled- or liquid-appearing surfaces, thought to have been formed by mechanical degradation or fatigue. When cornered on concrete, these materials formed small cylindrical particles or rolls. The BR tread had a smooth, granular-textured surface when driven on concrete highway and a ridge or sawtooth abrasion pattern when cornered on concrete. All the materials appeared rough and torn when run on gravel-textured highway. The differences in wear surface formed on BR tread and the other three are thought to be due primarily to the relatively high resilience of BR.
