Rubber coated steel tire cord adhesion

Resorcinol formaldehyde resin is a vital ingredient in the HRH rubber adhesion compounds (such as wire coat stock or breaker stock) in order to achieve good rubber-to-brass-coated steel tire cord adhesion. 

While it is possible to get some adhesion using HRH without the hydrated silica, many times insufficient adhesion is imparted. Thus hydrated precipitated silica is a very important component of the HRH system if it is used to achieve adequate rubber-to-metal adhesion. This is particularly true with rubber-to-brass-coated steel tire cord adhesion where there are very few practical alternatives. 

Cobalt is important to the rubber industry to promote rubber-to-metal adhesion. The use of cobalt salts, such as cobalt stearate or cobalt naphthenate as compounding additives, will promote better adhesion between cured rubber and brass-coated steel tire cord. 

Zinc metal is also used to alloy with copper to form brass. Brass-coated steel tire cord is used to achieve good rubber-to-metal adhesion. 

Recently, van Ooij et al. have reviewed adhesion of steel tire cord to rubber (van Ooij et al., 2009). The authors reviewed the literature extensively and provided an updated model for adhesion to brass-plated tire cord, which incorporated observations made by many techniques. They discussed the effects of different compounding ingredients and the possible alternatives to the current brass coatings. They note that the use of cobalt compounds improves the adhesion between rubber and brass-coated cords, but new adhesion promoters have been developed as replacements for Co, or for combined use with Co. They also discussed the use of phenolic-resin adhesion promoters. They describe the various techniques that have been developed to study the rubber-brass interface and its aging mechanism. 

Zinc oxide is essential in rubber technology because it is the most commonly used activator for sulfur cure systems. Just about every rubber compound that uses sulfur as the vulcanizing agent will most likely contain a small amount of zinc oxide to activate the cure. Also zinc is alloyed with copper to form brass. Special brass-plated steel tire cord is a primary reinforcing material for producing steel-belted radial tires. The brass coating of the steel tire cord enables very good rubber-to-metal adhesion. Therefore, zinc metal and zinc oxide are very important to the rubber industry. 

Insoluble Sulfur. In natural mbber compounds, insoluble sulfur is used for adhesion to brass-coated wire, a necessary component in steel-belted radial tires. The adhesion of mbber to the brass-plated steel cord during vulcanization improves with high sulfur levels ( 3.5%). Ordinary rhombic sulfur blooms at this dose level. Crystals of sulfur on the surface to be bonded destroy building tack and lead to premature failure of the tire. Rubber mixtures containing insoluble sulfur must be kept cool (<100°C) or the amorphous polymeric form converts to rhombic crystals. 

The thin coating of brass on the steel cord is the primary adhesive used in steel-to-rubber bonding. The quality of this bonding system built up during vulcanization of, for example, a radial tire will influence the performance of the steel ply or steel belt in the tire and, ultimately, the durability of the product. Though the mechanism of bond formation in rubber-steel cord adhesion is very complex, a brief review of the current understanding of wire to rubber adhesion is presented. 

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