Rubber composition comprising a polyphenylene ether resin as plasticizer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9822247-B2
Application number	US-201415105955-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2014
Priority date	Dec 20, 2013
Publication date	Nov 21, 2017
Grant date	Nov 21, 2017

Abstract

A rubber composition is based on at least one predominant vinylaromatic diene elastomer, a reinforcing filler, a crosslinking system and a thermoplastic resin comprising optionally substituted polyphenylene ether units, said resin having a compatibility with said vinylaromatic diene elastomer such that a mixture of said vinylaromatic diene elastomer and said resin creates a composition having less than 10% of its volume in the form of particles greater than 2 micrometres in size. The rubber composition may be used in semi-finished tire articles and tires.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A rubber composition based on:
at least one predominant vinylaromatic diene elastomer;
a reinforcing filler;
a crosslinking system; and
a thermoplastic resin comprising optionally substituted polyphenylene ether units,
wherein said resin has a compatibility with said vinylaromatic diene elastomer such that a mixture of said vinylaromatic diene elastomer and said resin creates a composition having less than 10% of its volume in the form of particles greater than 2 micrometers in size.

2. The rubber composition according to claim 1 , wherein said resin has a compatibility with said vinylaromatic diene elastomer such that a mixture of said vinylaromatic diene elastomer and said resin creates a composition having less than 5% of its volume in the form of particles greater than 2 micrometers in size.

3. The rubber composition according to claim 1 , wherein said resin has a compatibility with said vinylaromatic diene elastomer such that a mixture of said vinylaromatic diene elastomer and said resin creates a composition having less than 2% of its volume in the form of particles greater than 2 micrometer in size.

4. The rubber composition according to claim 1 , wherein said resin has a compatibility with said vinylaromatic diene elastomer such that the glass transition temperature Tg of a mixture of said vinylaromatic diene elastomer and said resin is increased by more than 5° C. for 25 parts by weight per hundred parts by weight of elastomer (phr) of said resin, compared to the Tg of said vinylaromatic diene elastomer alone.

5. The rubber composition according to claim 4 , wherein said resin has a compatibility with said vinylaromatic diene elastomer such that the glass transition temperature Tg of a mixture of said vinylaromatic diene elastomer and said resin is increased by more than 10° C. for 25 parts by weight per hundred parts by weight of elastomer (phr) of said resin, compared to the Tg of said vinylaromatic diene elastomer alone.

6. The rubber composition according to claim 1 , wherein said resin has a compatibility with the vinylaromatic diene elastomer such that the Tg of a mixture of said vinylaromatic diene elastomer and said resin is increased by more than 12° C. for 25 phr of said resin, compared to the Tg of said vinylaromatic diene elastomer alone.

7. The rubber composition according to claim 1 , wherein the vinylaromatic diene elastomer is selected from the group consisting of butadiene/styrene copolymers, isoprene/styrene copolymers and butadiene/isoprene/styrene copolymers and mixtures thereof.

8. The rubber composition according to claim 7 , wherein the vinylaromatic diene elastomer is selected from the group consisting of butadiene/styrene copolymers and mixtures thereof.

9. The rubber composition according to claim 1 , wherein the vinylaromatic diene elastomer has a vinylaromatic content of greater than 10%.

10. The rubber composition according to claim 9 , wherein the vinylaromatic diene elastomer has a vinylaromatic content of between 15% and 60%.

11. The rubber composition according to claim 10 , wherein the vinylaromatic diene elastomer has a vinylaromatic content of between 20% and 50%.

12. The rubber composition according to claim 11 , wherein the vinylaromatic diene elastomer has a vinylaromatic content of between 30% and 50%.

13. The rubber composition according to claim 12 , wherein the vinylaromatic diene elastomer has a vinylaromatic content of between 35% and 50%.

14. The rubber composition according to claim 1 , wherein the content of vinylaromatic diene elastomer is within a range extending from 70 to 100 phr (parts by weight per hundred parts of elastomer).

15. The rubber composition according to claim 14 , wherein the content of vinylaromatic diene elastomer is within a range extending from 85 to 100 phr.

16. The rubber composition according to claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic resin based on optionally substituted polyphenylene ether units has a glass transition temperature Tg, measured by DSC according to standard ASTM D3418, 1999, within a range extending from 0 to 215° C.

17. The rubber composition according to claim 16 , wherein the thermoplastic resin based on optionally substituted polyphenylene ether units has a glass transition temperature Tg, measured by DSC according to standard ASTM D3418, 1999, within a range extending from 5 to 200° C.

18. The rubber composition according to claim 17 , wherein the thermoplastic resin based on optionally substituted polyphenylene ether units has a glass transition temperature Tg, measured by DSC according to standard ASTM D3418, 1999, within a range extending from 5 to 185° C.

19. The rubber composition according to claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic resin based on optionally substituted polyphenylene ether units is a compound which predominantly comprises polyphenylene units of general formula (I):

wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 represent, independently of one another, identical or different groups selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxyl, alkoxy, halogen, amino, alkylamino groups, dialkylamino groups or hydrocarbon-based groups comprising at least 2 carbon atoms, optionally interrupted by heteroatoms and optionally substituted;
wherein R 1 and R 3 or R 2 and R 4 may form, together with the carbon atoms to which they are attached, one or more rings fused to the benzene ring of the compound of formula (I), and
wherein n is an integer within a range extending from 3 to 300.

20. The rubber composition according to claim 19 , wherein the thermoplastic resin based on optionally substituted polyphenylene ether units is a compound predominantly comprising polyphenylene units of general formula (I),
wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 represent, independently of one another, identical or different groups selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxyl, alkoxy, halogen, amino, alkylamino groups, dialkylamino groups, alkyl groups, and aryl groups,
wherein the alkyl groups are linear, branched or cyclic alkyl groups, comprising from 1 to 25 carbon atoms, optionally interrupted by heteroatoms selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur and optionally substituted by hydroxyl, alkoxy, amino, alkylamino, dialkylamino or halogen groups, and
wherein the aryl groups comprise from 6 to 18 carbon atoms, optionally substituted by hydroxyl, alkoxy, amino, alkylamino, dialkylamino, alkyl or halogen groups.

21. The rubber composition according to claim 20 , wherein the alkyl groups comprise from 2 to 18 carbon atoms and the aryl groups comprise from 6 to 12 carbon atoms.

22. The rubber composition according to claim 20 , wherein the thermoplastic resin based on optionally substituted polyphenylene ether units is a compound predominantly comprising polyphenylene units of general formula (I),
wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 represent, independently of one another, identical or different groups selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxyl, alkoxy comprising from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, halogen, amino, alkylamino comprising from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, dialkylamino comprising from 2 to 12 carbon atoms groups, alkyl groups, and aryl groups,
wherein the alkyl groups are linear, branched or cyclic alkyl groups, comprising from 1 to 12 carbon atoms, optionally interrupted by heteroatoms and optionally substitute

Assignees

• Michelin & Cie
• Michelin Rech Tech

Inventors

• Abad Vincent

Classifications

• C08L9/06 Primary

  Copolymers with styrene · CPC title

• B60C1/0016

  Compositions of the tread · CPC title

• C08L71/126

  modified by chemical after-treatment · CPC title

• C08L2205/06

  having improved processability or containing aids for moulding methods · CPC title

• C08L25/10

  with conjugated dienes · CPC title