Glass tire cord

Some glass tire cord is still being used in the belts of belted-bias and radial passenger tires. However, the use of glass in belts has been limited because of the preference of steel wire in radial tires. Still, there has been some research work done in order to improve the dynamic performance of glass belts in tires. 

Introduced successfully for tires in 1967, glass fibers had properties that made them very attractive for use in tires (5,8). The britdeness of glass fibers, however, imposed some limitations on the final tire cord properties because of the requirement that each fiber be individually coated with a rubbery adhesive to avoid interfilament damage during fabrication and use. This additional treatment step is introduced at the fiber manufacturing stage. For several years fiber glass was used extensively in bias-belted and radial tires, but was ultimately replaced by steel belts in radial tires. 

A wide variety of special durable surface treatments have been used on manufactured fibers. These include treatments for imparting such characteristics as soil resistance, antistatic behavior, and wearer comfort through moisture wicking and transport. Fiber finishes also have been used successfully in promoting adhesion between two materials, as, for example, between polyester tire cord and rubber, and between glass fiber and polyester resin. 

The literature offers numerous examples of investigations of copolymers of vinylpyridines and N-vinylpyrrolidones and of their use in adhesive applications. For example, 4-vinylpyridine (4VP) has been grafted onto rubber and used in copolymers blended with rubber to improve the adhesion of rubbers to metals and other tire cord materials (2, 3, 4). Poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) has very good adhesion to glass, metals, and various plastics and can be used to give improved adhesion between glass fiber and other plastics in glass fiber-... 

The aminobenzhydrazide residue inside the parentheses can also take the reversed position in the polymer chain. The modulus of elasticity, about 5400 g/tex, is double that of E-glass. The fibers produced from this polymer are known as high-modulus fibers and are used to reinforce plastics and as tire cord. 

Tire cord n. A textile material used to impart the flex resistance necessary for tire reinforcement. Tire yarns of polyester, rayon, nylon, aramid, glass, or steel are twisted to 5-12 turns/in. Two or more of these twisted yarns are twisted together in the opposite direction to obtain a cabled tire cord. The twist level required depends on the material, the yarn linear density, and the particular application of the cord. Normally, tire cords are twisted to about the same degree in the S and Z directions, which mean that the net effect is almost zero twist in the finished cord. 

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