TYRE CURING

Curing recipes and settings

The curing recipe determines the settings to be used for the curing process. The curing recipe contains:
information on the mould, bladder, flanges as well as the tyre markings that vary by type (ply rating, LI, DOT etc.)
• press settings (press type, bushing etc.)
• shaping information (loading heights, shaping time)
• curing program
• shaping time
• bladder steam / hot water filling time
• bladder steam / hot water circulation time
• pressure and time of dome steam applied
• release time
• cooling time
• press opening

The operator follows a checklist to make sure all changes have been made and settings changed, and with his signature
acknowledges that the setting procedure has been completed. The markings and dimensions are checked on the first tyre
completed from each production series so as to get the final affirmation of the correctness of the settings.

Curing Time of a Tyre

Curing time = State of cure definition + Safety factor + Pressure release time + Press opening time

Safety Factor
• Deviations in compound (reaction time)
• Deviations in tyre thickness
• Deviations in temperatures
• Steam temperature
• Hot water temperature
• Variation of the temperature of the green tyre
• Mould temperature
• Deviations in bladder thickness

Postcuring inflation
The postcuring inflation stage involves mounting the green tyre on the flanges, inflating it and cooling it according to a
predetermined and preselected procedure.

Conditions for Post Curing Inflation

• Immediately after release from the press, the green tyre is mounted on the flanges either automatically or manually
• The postcuring inflation pressure has to be about 20-35 % higher than what the normal inflation pressure of the tyre
would be.
• The inflation time has to be long enough (at least one curing cycle) depending on the size of the tyre (thickness of
materials).
• The distance between the flanges needs to be same as the width of the recommended rim for the tyre.

Purpose of Post Curing Inflation

• Stabilize the shape of the tyre.
• Postcuring inflation will help eliminate the influence of hot shrinkage on the tyre -> the tyre dimensions will not increase
under actual operating conditions.
• Postcuring inflation is recommended especially tyres of nylon carcass construction.

Differences in the curing of radial and cross ply tyres

Cross Ply Tyres

• Cylindrical bladder is used.
• Green tyres are preshaped in a press.
• Before curing, the inside of the tyre carcass is painted – or alternatively the bladder may be processed or painted – which
helps the tyre carcass slide better against the bladder during shaping.
• Considerable deformation of green tyres is possible during curing.
 •
Radial Tyres
• Loading requirements are more precise than with cross ply tyres.
• A so called B-type bladder is used.
• Deformation during curing is small.

The most common curing faults according to the FMEA analysis

• Tread bareness
• Damaged tread
• Shoulder blisters
• Sidewall bareness
• Sidewall blisters
• Sidewall damage (steam or water leak)
• Toe cuts
• Inside bareness
• Bladder break
• Wrong green tyre
• Undervulcanized tyre
• Curing failures
• Dirty mould
• Damaged mould
• Distorted stretch
• Defective mould equipment
• Mould extraction split
• DOT missing/wrong
• Wrong post inflation pressure

Main phases of the curing process for cross ply tyres

The curing process can be divided into:
• Preshaping
• loading the green tyre onto the press
• shaping: the shaping bladder is stretched evenly inside the green tyre
• curing and cooling
• offloading the tyre from the press
• Post curing inflation (if needed)

Curing press
• The tyre is vulcanized in a curing press, which receives the energy required for the vulcanization process through the dome
and bladder.
• The steam building up within the dome transmits the energy through the mould.
• Energy is transmitted from the hot water circulating in the shaping bladder through the bladder into the tyre carcass. The
pressure of hot water forces the tyre carcass against the mould, which process causes the tyre tread impression to be
moulded into the surface of the tyre and determines the final shape of the tyre.
• The press requires four types of motive power:
• electricity (control commands, press motion open/closed)
• compressed air (lubricators, confirmation of the control commands, other compressed air powered equipment)
• hydraulic pressure (tyre loading/offloading equipment, bladder motion etc.)
• dome steam and hot water (vulcanization energy)

Curing Press Types

• Bag-O-Matic, BOM type, the most commonly used curing method
• AF-type press
• Autoclave curing method
 Tyre Curing methods
a) Dome Steam, Bladder Steam
• Usually used in production of small tyres like passenger car tyres, bicycle tyres and smaller agricultural
tyres.

b) Dome Steam, Hot Water in Bladder

• This is the most common method in production of big tyres.
• Often is used also circulation of cooling water in the end of the curing phase to cool the tyre before
release (temperature 25-50 Oc).

c) Nitrogen Curing
• Rather new curing method. Steam or hot water in the bladder is replaced by nitrogen.
• With nitrogen curing, the curing time can be shortened and problems caused by water or steam can be
eliminated.
• This method decreases energy consumption in curing compared to hot water or steam curing.

Curing Temperatures
• Generally the bladder steam or hot water temperature is standardized. Instead, the dome steam
temperature is changed according to the product. By stopping the circulation of hot water it is possible to
regulate the energy that comes through the bladder.
• Temperature levels in a curing process are determined by the vulcanization properties of the compound.
Typically the dome steam is lower, 120-170 oC. Hot water in the bladder is 150-220 oC.

Mould Materials
• Full Aluminium
• Full cast iron
• Frame / Tread segment
• Steel / All cast
• Steel / Steel cast
• Steel / Cast iron
• Steel / Steel engraved

Essential Properties
• surface quality
• mould strength
• thermal conductivity
• ventilation holes
• possible to take the tyre off the mould without pattern breaks

Mould Maintenance
• The precuring mould maintenance procedure includes:
• cleaning the mould (cleaning by sandblasting)
• opening the ventilation holes
• setting the equipment to meet the requirements of the tyre to be cured:
• changing the date of manufacture (DOT)
 • checking or changing the LI and plyrating markings
• checking that the other markings needed correspond with the production formula for the tyre in question
• with 2-piece moulds controlling the accuracy of the alignment key so as to avoid the mould pieces
becoming indented
• visual inspection of the condition of the mould before taking it to curing.

Curing bladders 
• Dimensioning of the following characteristics is required:
• height/width
• shape
• grooving (density/shape)
• thickness
• Tight bead area
• Homogeneity of the material:
• porosity
• cuts
• Hardness

The Criteria for Choosing a Bladder

• The dimensions and geometry of the tyre to be cured determine the bladder to be chosen for the job.
Stretching occurs during the curing process both as far as the diameter and the height of the bladder are
concerned. The stretching ratio of the bladder should be kept in balance. Too big an elongation not only
shortens the service life of the bladder, but it may also lead to an irregular elongation of the tyre, which
may cause the tyre to become asymmetric in shape. Too small an elongation may cause wrinkles to the
bladder, which in turn will cause damage in the inner surface of the tyre.
• The service life of a bladder depends on the elongation, bladder material, curing temperature and
pressure used. The bladders are made of butyl rubber.

Tyre Basic constructions

Radial Ply Tyres, Cross Ply Tyres and Bias Belted Tyres
The carcass of a cross ply tyre actually consists of only one part, multiply crossing plies. In practice the wires are in the rear part of
the tyre at an angle of 25-45o depending on the aspect ratio of the tyre.
Radial ply tyres always have a two-piece construction including a one- or multiply-layered carcass and a multiply-layered belt
structure. The cords go radially from one bead wire to another. The belts are clearly at a small angle to each other (15-20 o). In
multiple-layered constructions, the wires can be set to intersect each other a little in order to regulate the features (e.g. stability).
Bias belted tyres are in principle cross ply tyres added with belts. The tyres are marked with “B”. Nokian Tyres uses this marking in
mining tyres. Marking B could also be used in the logging tyres (SF).
In practice, the extra reinforcements of the cross ply tyres are called brakers. They are about at the same angle as the wires.
Many arguments can be stated why radial tyres are better than cross ply tyres.
A trend is that radial ply construction will be used more in all the product areas. The first car tyre with a radial ply construction was
presented already in 1948 by Michelin. After it, the radial ply construction has become general in almost every product area.
However, there are still uses, where radial structures have not been successful, like forestry, mining, and the biggest harbour tyres.
The problem with the radial structures is the endurance and sidewall stability, because the sidewalls are relatively more loose
compared to cross ply tyres. There have been attempts to compensate the problem by different additional components that can
easily raise the price of the tyre.

Choosing a Tyre
When choosing a tyre for a certain application, following things have to be taken into consideration:
• suitability of the outer dimensions to the machine
 • construction (radial/cross ply)
• tread pattern
• sufficiency of the load capacity for different purposes
• stress on the surface caused by the tyre (tyre contact pressure)
• behaviour of the vehicle (without suspension).
•
On hard surfaces, the tyre size should be chosen so that the surface pressure is the smallest possible. The pressure on hard
surfaces is a function of the tyre inflation pressure (>= pressure).
In forestry, often has to be used higher recommendations for tyre pressures, because the sidewall durability is a more important
factor than the load capacity. The pressure recommendations may be even 1,5 times higher than the calculated pressures.

Following compounds are widely used in different tyre types:

Forest compounds are strongly cut resistant. Abrasion is destructive and the tyres are exposed to cutting. In tyres, chains and
tracks are used much and they may gnaw the tyre. The compounds are SBR based special compounds.

Mining compounds are much like forestry compounds. The compound is in the mine under even bigger exertion than in the forest,
because the conditions are very demanding (wet, sharp rock material).

Harbour compounds have a good abrasion resistance and low heat buildup. Also tear resistance is good. Typically the
compounds are NR-based (NR/BR combinations). Resistance to ageing has to be taken into account.
Compounds for construction applications are like the harbour compounds. They are used a lot on the highway. Tear resistance
is not required to be as high as in the case of harbour compounds.

Truck compounds resist abrasion well and produce little heat. The compounds are 100 % of NR or NR/BR combination (e.g.
80/20 % NR/BR). In on/off-road compounds SBR may be used to achieve better abrasion resistance.

Carcass Constructions
The tyre carcass is required to have extremely high strength, dimensional stability and fatigue resistance. Therefore it is important
to construct the tyre so that each cord ply bears all the forces directed to it.
Cross ply construction balances well the forces between the cord plies. The reason is that under stretching the cross ply
construction gives the cords more possibilities to settle. Small angle changes do not affect the cross ply construction, because the
carcass tries to find its own form. Cross ply tyre constructions may have several bead wires and pockets. In radial tyres, multiwire
constructions are not used, because stretching is different and it would not be possible to balance the forces between the pockets.
Tyre constructions are notified with the cord number per pocket. For a singlewire tyre, the maximum cord amount is in principle ten
(6+4). In multiwire cross ply tyres the amount of pockets follow the same principle, which means that around a bead wire may be
six cords at the most and around the whole bundle four cords. Also breakers can be used in tyres to increase the strength or as
fortification, when the construction is given for example in the form of 6+2+2BR. The upper layers in cross ply tyres are usually
cords with lower cord number (ends/10 cm) and thicker rubber than the actual carcass cords. The aim is to make it stick better on
the tread and sidewall.
One type of constructions is multiply textile radial carcass. The amount of cord plies is typically 3-7. With textile carcass radial
construction, it is possible to reach half of the amount of cords in cross ply construction.
The speciality among radial construction tyres is the monoply construction tyre, in which the carcass consists of one strong steel
cord. With this construction, small heat build-up and long tyre life is reached.
To stabilize the tyre construction, post inflation is used. This happens immediately after curing by pressurizing the tyre (e.g. 1,3 5
standard pressure). Post inflation is used especially for Nylon carcass tyres. With post inflation, the shrinkage of the carcass is
prevented when the tyre gets cool. If the tyre shrinks, it usually also stretches back to its original form in use, which may cause
separations between the carcass and the surface.

Belt Constructions
The tyre belts have to stand high stress even in driving straight . The influence of the load is emphasized in driving in curves.
Therefore it is very important to separate the belt ends from each other and from the carcass. The belt ends move with pumping
movement under stress, and so the heat build-up of cord coating and belt edge rubber has to be low (tan d).

Belt material is either textile or steel. Textile belts are mainly of Rayon because of the good stability. Requirements for the steel cord
are good stiffness and strength. Textile belts are used mainly in agricultural tyres. Steel belts are used in earthmoving tyres.
Typically the number of textile belts is four, but even a bigger number can be used. The number of steel cords, on the other hand, is
usually three or four (minimum 2).

Bead Area
Bead area is one of the most critical areas that affect the tyre durability, because the ply turnups often end in the flexing area the
lower part of the sidewall. Therefore it is very important that the ends of the cords are staggered to each other. The cord end should
not be on the apex or clinch end. By shaping the bead area it is possible to minimize the influence of flexing.
In heavy tyre constructions are often used cords of the same width, which makes the beads asymmetric: one bead with an open
construction, another with a closed construction. The function of both beads has to be made certain, because their flexibility is
different.