The Role of Material Composition In the Construction of Viscoelastic Master Curves

One of the important aspects in the development of new tire compounds is the correlation between the dynamic mechanical properties of the rubber, measured on laboratory scale, and the actual tire performance. The measuring protocol for dynamic mechanical properties with high precision and good correlation with tire properties is of main concern. In order to predict wet traction and wear performance, the viscoelastic behavior of the rubber materials at high frequencies (in MHz range) is commonly measured. Viscoelastic master curves derived from time-temperature superposition can then be used to describe the properties of the materials over a wide frequency range.

In this paper, the construction of master curves for different types of tread compounds, filled with silica and carbon black, is discussed. Activation energies will be derived from the vertical shifts and correlated with the material composition. Rubber is a nonlinear material, so its behavior also depends on strain amplitude. The effect of different strain amplitudes on the master curves is also discussed.