Vehicle tyres are the most prominent rubber articles regarding volume and importance.

They are also the most important design and spring element of the vehicle. More than half of the Natural Rubber and Synthetic Rubbers produced in the world are consumed in the tyre industry. Early tyre development took place mainly in Great Britain. The Scottish engineer, Robert William Thomson invented the worlds first pneumatic tyres in 1845. They consisted of rubber tubes filled with air protected by a canvas cover with leather treads. Although these air-filled tyres offered less resistance to the irregularities of road surfaces than either iron or solid rubber tyres the invention was forgotten, because of the high costs and difficulties to remove these tyres. More than forty years later, in 1888 John Boyd Dunlop revived the pneumatic tyre. The first commercially available pneumatic tyres consisted of an inner-tube surrounded by a cover made up of several layers of woven canvas-type fabric, held together by rubber bonding. These covers were coated with rubber, which was thickened in the tread area and were locked onto the rim in various ways. This invention and its first applications were for bicycle tyres. Tire Production: The tire production process is a very meticulous and complex. Raw materials: 1. Natural Rubber and Chemicals 2. Fabric 3. Steel Compounding and Mixing: Compounding is the operation of bringing together natural rubber, process oil, carbon black, accelerator and other additives, each of which contributes certain properties to what is called a compound. To obtain a homogeneous mixture, they are mixed at high temperatures in a massive mixer.

Output of compounding & mixing: Cooled rubber slabs Component preparation: Components preparation falls into three classes: 1. Extrusion: Process of applying heat and pressure on the compound and additional mixing of the compound. Output: Tread: Improve wear and traction in any environment. Sidewall: Provide good abrasion and environment resistance for the sides of tires

2. Calendaring : Process of squeezing the compound into a thin sheet, Fabric calendars produce an upper and lower rubber sheet with a layer of fabric in between. Steel calendars produce the same with steel cords. Calendars utilize downstream equipment for shearing and slicing calendared components. Output: Belt package: Give the tire strength while allowing it to remain flexible in its structure. Body ply: Provide tire structure and strength. Inner liner: Assure that tires will hold high-pressure inside without the air gradually diffusing through. 3. Bead building : Shaped like a hoop, it has coated high-tensile wires forming its backbone. The strands are aligned into a ribbon coated with rubber adhesion. Output: Bead: Provide the mechanical strength to fit the tire to the wheel.

Tire building: The tire building machine pre-shapes radial tires into a form very close to their final dimensions to make sure the many components are in their proper positions before the tire goes into the mold.

A: Ensure all components are in their

proper positions

B: One part of the pre-shaping process

C: