Visualization of tire tread behaviour at wear process

Abstract

Wear of off-road tires is a very complicated matter and presents a big problem for end users. Sharp edges of stones and grits, including terrain irregularities, chip off (tear) small parts of tire tread compound, which can cause tire destruction. Two tire tread compounds of different hardness used for the production of tires for construction machinery were selected for the laboratory tests. The wear process was recorded by high-speed camera system Olympus i - 2. The type of wear of individual tire tread compounds was monitored with respect to the manner of tearing and size of the torn particles. In this article the difference in the behaviour of soft and hard compounds during the laboratory test of wear of off-road tire tread compounds is described.