Failure Analysis of Tires: A Materials Perspective

A pneumatic tire is a composite typically comprised of a combination of rubber compounds, fabric, and metal strategically manufactured and arranged to deliver the required performance. This complexity is often ignored except in the rare cases when the tire’s performance deviates from expectation. While these deviations in performance can cover a wide range of observations, the materials science of the individual components as they relate to the composite at large can give insight into the tire’s performance. This presentation will discuss the materials science of tires with respect to failure analysis.