178
9 Reinforcement in the Twenty-First Century
of the trial and error stage to shift to the next more rational stage. These considerations based on a scientific methodology are to be more and more important up to
the crossing point X in Fig. 9.1, which may be assumed to be the beginning of IT
dominance. Reference [57] said,
The more technology advances in response to economic incentives rather than ‘random’
scientific discoveries, the more feasible it is to direct the course of technical progress to
benefit more people.
From materials science side, how to direct the course of technical progress is
crucial up to the crossing point with IT.
Nanofiller-loaded rubber vulcanizates are the main component in lots of rubber
articles including tires, and they naturally have many problems or much room to
improve. In pursuit of their higher performance and longer life, there appear many
problems to be solved. Not random trials, but to assume a few possible hypotheses
is a key for the new approach, based on deducing the right direction toward the final
solution. Since nano is the smallest scale of the stratified objects for a moment, it
may be beneficial to have a wider view than that of nanoscale is one of the effective
methodologies as well as to describe in detail the materials or devices scientifically
at each stratum. (Some scientists at physicochemical field use the word ‘hierarchy’
for stratum. But, it is not much recommended to use for objects, which are to be
observed objectively.)
Interestingly, a paper reported that the network formation of a nanofiller
has delayed the combustion of polymer composites [58]. Organic polymers are
flammable, and various retardants including halogenic and phosphorous compounds
have been used. However, the combustion products from these compounds are often
poisonous to cause secondary damage. In this paper, CNT was reported to function as
an effective reinforcer and combustion retarder, i.e., it was active both mechanically
and chemically. This observation may be related with the relationship of thermal
conductivity with electroconductivity: Mixing of CB affords better conductivity as
well as reinforcement. About the recent trend of decarbonization and the growth of
carbon allotropes (CB, fullerene, CNT, graphene, etc.), which are apparently against
the trend, are already mentioned [59]. The number of relevant publications is increasing like an avalanche, and among them, papers reporting 3D network formation of
these carbon allotropes other than CB are found [60–62]. These results are supporting the generality of nanofiller networking, which is detailed in this book on CB and
particulate silica, in particular.
On pneumatic tires, see the relevant chapters in Refs. [9, 29, 38, 63]. On airless
tires for negating, a blowout will be described later. For the time being, a run-flat tire
(drivable flat tire), downsizing of tire for a lower weight, trapezoid profile tire for
driving stability, more than one hundred times retreading of aircraft tires, etc., are to
be noted more. On these prospective considerations on tires, a stratified observation
at three levels of size scales will be useful as shown in Table 9.1 [9].
In connection with rubber tires, the prospective views of automobiles are to be
presented. Under the progress of IT, automatic driving of automobiles is now highlighted. Different from auto driving, which means simply driving an automobile,
9 Reinforcement in the Twenty-First Century
of the trial and error stage to shift to the next more rational stage. These considerations based on a scientific methodology are to be more and more important up to
the crossing point X in Fig. 9.1, which may be assumed to be the beginning of IT
dominance. Reference [57] said,
The more technology advances in response to economic incentives rather than ‘random’
scientific discoveries, the more feasible it is to direct the course of technical progress to
benefit more people.
From materials science side, how to direct the course of technical progress is
crucial up to the crossing point with IT.
Nanofiller-loaded rubber vulcanizates are the main component in lots of rubber
articles including tires, and they naturally have many problems or much room to
improve. In pursuit of their higher performance and longer life, there appear many
problems to be solved. Not random trials, but to assume a few possible hypotheses
is a key for the new approach, based on deducing the right direction toward the final
solution. Since nano is the smallest scale of the stratified objects for a moment, it
may be beneficial to have a wider view than that of nanoscale is one of the effective
methodologies as well as to describe in detail the materials or devices scientifically
at each stratum. (Some scientists at physicochemical field use the word ‘hierarchy’
for stratum. But, it is not much recommended to use for objects, which are to be
observed objectively.)
Interestingly, a paper reported that the network formation of a nanofiller
has delayed the combustion of polymer composites [58]. Organic polymers are
flammable, and various retardants including halogenic and phosphorous compounds
have been used. However, the combustion products from these compounds are often
poisonous to cause secondary damage. In this paper, CNT was reported to function as
an effective reinforcer and combustion retarder, i.e., it was active both mechanically
and chemically. This observation may be related with the relationship of thermal
conductivity with electroconductivity: Mixing of CB affords better conductivity as
well as reinforcement. About the recent trend of decarbonization and the growth of
carbon allotropes (CB, fullerene, CNT, graphene, etc.), which are apparently against
the trend, are already mentioned [59]. The number of relevant publications is increasing like an avalanche, and among them, papers reporting 3D network formation of
these carbon allotropes other than CB are found [60–62]. These results are supporting the generality of nanofiller networking, which is detailed in this book on CB and
particulate silica, in particular.
On pneumatic tires, see the relevant chapters in Refs. [9, 29, 38, 63]. On airless
tires for negating, a blowout will be described later. For the time being, a run-flat tire
(drivable flat tire), downsizing of tire for a lower weight, trapezoid profile tire for
driving stability, more than one hundred times retreading of aircraft tires, etc., are to
be noted more. On these prospective considerations on tires, a stratified observation
at three levels of size scales will be useful as shown in Table 9.1 [9].
In connection with rubber tires, the prospective views of automobiles are to be
presented. Under the progress of IT, automatic driving of automobiles is now highlighted. Different from auto driving, which means simply driving an automobile,