Technical Notebook: Measurement of wet and snow/ice traction with torsional dynamic rheometer

Historically, measurements to evaluate tread rubber compound performance with respect to tire labeling requirements had been performed on dynamic mechanical analyzers (DMA). A DMA measures viscoelastic properties of cured rubber samples as a function of time, temperature, frequency and strain, usually in tension, compression or shear.

DMA has been extensively explored to provide useful information on tread rubber laboratory performance predictors such as glass transition temperature (snow/ice traction), wet traction, dry traction, rolling resistance and heat buildup. However, in a production environment DMA tests are slow and time consuming. This study is aimed to evaluate the Premier RPA, a torsional Dynamic Mechanical Rheological Tester to obtain data on tread rubber performance prediction and quantify some of the comparative advantages between the two instruments.