Pneumatic tires intended for severe service such as truck tires may be composed of elastomers comprised primarily of natural rubber with a minor amount of polybutadiene rubber to promote resistance to treadwear. Moreover, the partial replacement of carbon black with precipitated silica is becoming popular in the tire industry in order to achieve a balanced condition between properties like rolling resistance, wet grip and abrasion resistance.
To optimize such a complex formulation, low Tg SBR may be introduced, from emulsion or solution polymerization, combined with the presence of functional groups for a better filler-polymer interaction. An investigation is then presented for providing tire tread compounds for medium severity service, characterized by reduced NR content, dual-filler reinforcement and containing S-SBR grades produced through batch and continuous technology, with or without functionalization.