THE TALE OF A TYRE

The story of tyre traces look long back into the ancient times when wheel was
invented by our ancestors. Wheel, now the “bone of tyre”, was in its primitive
form, a circular hard block with a hole for the axle. The invention of wheel was
in the late Neolithic or Bronze Age. In the primitive period, cave men used logs
of wood to transport their day’s hunt to their caves. Then, its use and shape
evolved from piece of round solid wood for carrying dead animals to wheels of
bullock carts and horse wagon. Manufacturing of modern day tyre was possible
through the development of wooden cart wheels. The earliest ones were leather
bands on wooden wheels of carts and wagons. Then, later iron and also steel
came into use. The tyre is heated and quenched over the wheel making it tight.
This work is done by ‘wheelwright’. In the 19th century, wire wheels and
pneumatic tires came into picture. Early tyres were non pneumatic; that is, they
were solid. The first pneumatic tyre was made by John Boyd Dunlop in 1888. It
was done as attempt to prevent headaches of his son caused due to riding his
tricycle on rough pavements. The first tyre was designed with help of his doctor
Sir john Fagan, who had prescribed cycling as an exercise for the child. Use of
pneumatic tyres can be seen now in cars, bicycles, trucks, aircraft and
motorcycles.

The main raw material used in manufacturing tyre is rubber. Both natural rubber
and synthetic rubber are used. Natural rubber comes from a rubber tree ‘Havea
Brasiliensis’ as a milky liquid. We also get latex from other plants in the
Euphorb family, Mulberry family, Milkyweed family and Chicory tribe. So, as
we look into the family tree of a tyre, we see that the person planting a rubber
sapling takes the first place. It takes about six years for a rubber tree to grow to
a stage where we can harvest it. Once it is matured enough for harvesting, we
can gather latex from the tree. The collector collects latex from the tree. Latex is
the milky substance we get from the tree and this process of extracting latex is
called rubber tapping. A diagonal cut is first made on the bark of the tree. Like a
bleeding wound , the milky-white latex fluid runs out like blood from the cut.
This fluid aka latex is collected in a bucket . After about six hours , it will stop
flowing and by that time we would have got a bucket full of latex. This same
tapping process can be done the very next day with another a fresh cut on the
bark.
Then there are other type of rubber; that is the synthetic rubbers made in a
chemical plant or laboratory. Synthetic rubbers are made from polymers which
are found in crude oil. There are different types of synthetic rubber available in
the market like styrene butadiene, polyacrylics, polyvinyl chloride etc. Natural
rubber and synthetic rubber are similar but different in terms of processes and
chemical structures. Synthetic rubbers are made in chemical plants using
petrochemicals like neoprene, which is one of the first and best. It is made
through the reaction between acetylene and hydrochloric acid. Of all these
synthetic rubbers, emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber (E-SBR) is used for
making vehicle tyres. Half of the world’s rubber is used to wrap around the
wheels of vehicles. It can be found inside and outside of tyres. The hard and
black vulcanized exterior of tires and also in liners and inner tubes. But, the
inner part is made of a different kind of rubber that is very flexible; that is ‘butyl
rubber’, it traps gases effectively thus the tyre stays inflated for long periods of
time. Another important ingredient is carbon black. It is a soft and fine powder
created when crude oil is burned with less oxygen (incomplete combustion) and
this result in fine soot. Bulk quantity of carbon black is need in making tires, so
huge silos of it are stored at the factory until needed. Sulphur also is used in
making tires. Such specific chemical when mixed with rubber and heated it
produces specified characteristics for the tires. Like, high friction and low
mileage for race cars or; low friction and high mileage for normal passenger
cars.

The materials for modern pneumatic tyres are cords and elastomer. The cords
make up the ply and elastomer encases them. Cords provide the strength to
contain the inflation pressure. It may be composed of steel, cotton , silk, nylon
or Kevlar. Elastomer forms the thread and encases the cord which protects the
same from abrasion . It also holds them in place. It is a key component in
pneumatic tire design. It is composed of Silica or carbon black .

Looking into the components of tire, it is composed of several parts: the thread,
bead, sidewall, shoulder, and ply.

A thread is the part of tyre that comes into contact with the road and it may have
patterns like grooves, lugs, void, and sipes. It is a thicker rubber that provides an
appropriate level of traction . grooves go circumferentially around the tyre and
are meant to channel away water. Lugs are the portion of the thread design
which comes into contact with the road surface and voids are the spaces
between the lugs; it allows lugs to flex and channel away water. Sipes are
perpendicular slits cut across the tyre to allow water from the groove to
evacuate.

A tire bead contacts the rim on the wheel. It seats tightly against the two rims so
that the tubeless tire holds air without leakage. It also ensures that the tyre does
not shift circumferentially as the wheel rotates.

The sidewall bridges the gap between the thread and the bead. It is reinforced
with fabric or steel cords for tensile strength and flexibility.

Shoulder is the edge of the thread of the tire as it makes a transition to the
sidewall. And, ply or plies are layers of inextensible cords. These codes are
embedded in the rubber to hold its shape. It prevents it from stretching due to
the internal pressure. The orientation of these plies is one of the main ways that
tires are categorized.

Computer systems and its software are used for designing tires. The tire
engineers with the help of these software, create a three – dimensional color
image of the design for the tire. Many designs are created before they fix the
final one. A computer also finds the effect of various types of rubber
compounds.

After the engineers are satisfied with the findings made using computer
software and design is fixed, them along with the skilled assemblers work with
the designers to make a tire prototype for testing. When all three are satisfied
with the new tire design after prototype testing, the factories starts the mass
production of tires.

A tyre is manufactured by wrapping layers of rubber around a metal drum. It is

done in a tire-forming machine. All the components of tire are carried to the
machine. The assembler cuts and positions the strips or layers to form different
parts of the tire . At this point it is called “green tire”. Then this green tire is
taken for curing in a mould.

The first step of manufacturing a tire is mixing of all the raw materials to form
rubber compound. Raw materials include large quantities of natural and
synthetic rubber, sulphur, carbon black and other chemicals and also oils. All of
these are stored and a computer control system containing the recipes
automatically measures the batches for mixing of these raw materials. Gigantic
mixers , mixes these batches of rubber and chemicals. Each mix is remilled to
soften the batch. Then the mix goes through the mixer again to add additional
chemicals. This is the final mix.

Once all these mixing is over and rubber compound is ready , it goes through a
powerful rolling mills that squeeze the batch into thick sheets. These are sheets
that later becomes different parts of the tire. The ply, beads, thread, sidewalls
etc are made . Cloth like fabrics are covered with rubber is made and these
rubberized fabric is used to form a layer called ply if the tire. A passenger car
has about four plies in its tire. Wire wrapping machine creates wire bundles and
these are then formed into rings which are then covered with rubber. An
extruder machine processes the rubber for tire thread and sidewalls. It again
heats and mixes the rubber mixture. Sidewall rubber gets a protective plastic
sheet and is rolled; whereas, thread rubber is made into strips and loaded to flat,
large metal cases. These metal cases are called books.

All these; the rolls of sidewall rubber, books of thread rubber and the racks of
beads, are taken to a skilled assembler. The rubber covered fabric plies are
wrapped around the machine drum by the assembler. Then he joins the ends of
these plies with glue; the beads are added and locked into place. This locking is
done by adding additional plies over the beads. Next, he shapes the edges of the
tire plies with special tools. Finally, the sidewalls and thread are glued , and the
assembled green tire is removed from the machine.

Next is the curing process, for which, the green tire is placed inside a mould.
This mould is huge and clam shaped, inside which it reveals a large , flexible
balloon like thing called a bladder. The green tire inside this mould is shaped
with the help of bladder filled with steam. This steam heats up the green tire
during the curing process up to 280 degrees. According to the characteristics
desired for the tire , we can decide the time it should be kept inside the mould.

After the curing is complete, the tire is cooled and then tested. The tire is placed
on a test wheel to be inflated and spun. It also has sensors to measure the
balance of the tyre; that is to ensure that the tire runs in a straight line. Once the
inspection is completed, the tire is moved to a warehouse.

Next stage is checking of quality of the tire manufactured. When a new tire
design is introduced, hundreds of tires taken from the assembly line are send for
destructive testing. Some are even sliced open and is checked for any air
pockets in between the plies in the body of the tire. Some of them are pressed
down on metal studs so as to measure puncture resistance. Other tires are
rapidly spun and then forced down to metal drums. This is done to test mileage
and other characteristics vital for the performance of the tire. Other techniques
which are non-destructive in nature are also used to check the quality of the tires
manufactured. For a quick and revealing view through tire, a X-ray
videography is used. This is done in a radiation booth. Defects of the tires can
be easily spotted in a X-ray image. If they find a defect, then the engineers
review the whole process of its making to find how that flaw was formed. In
addition to these tests done internally, feedback received from dealers and
consumers is also helpful to find flaws or to know any need for improvements.

And, then the tires are taken to the end consumers through tire dealers.

Exciting new tires will be introduced into the markets as constant improvements
happen in the rubber chemistry and tire designs. New tires that offer greater
mileage and improved performance in extreme weathers will be developed in
the future. Tire engineers are also into experimenting non-pneumatic tires that
will never go flat. That is because they won’t contain any air under pressure.
One such tire is a thick slab of plastic which is attached to the wheel rim.