In the present investigation, the morphology of Ti inclusions in high strength tire cord steel was investigated and their precipitation behavior was discussed using a precipitation and growth model. The results show that Ti inclusions mainly exist in the form of TiN. The two-dimensional characterization of Ti inclusions is square-like with sharp edges and corners, while its three-dimensional shape exhibits a cubic or rectangular-prism morphology. The Ti inclusions do not precipitate when the solid fraction of tire cord during solidification is less than 0.987, and their final radius is closely related to the cooling rate and initial concentration product. The higher the cooling speed, the smaller the final radius, when the cooling speed is constant, the final radius of Ti inclusions is mainly determined by the initial concentration product, w[N]0×w[Ti]0. In order to retard the precipitation and growth of Ti inclusions in tire cord steel, the cooling rate and initial concentration product can be taken into consideration.

In the present work, a tire model is derived based on geometrically exact shells. The discretization is done with the help of isoparametric quadrilateral finite elements. The interpolation is performed with bilinear Lagrangian polynomials for the midsurface as well as for the director field. As time stepping method for the resulting differential algebraic equation a backward differentiation formula is chosen. A multilayer material model for geometrically exact shells is introduced, to describe the anisotropic behavior of the tire material. To handle the interaction with a rigid road surface, a unilateral frictional contact formulation is introduced. Therein a special surface to surface contact element is developed, which rebuilds the shape of the tire.

It is estimated that the amount of used car tires in the European Union in 2016 was established at the level of 3,515,000 Mg, which is undoubtedly a problem from the point of view of engineering and environmental protection. An alternative to storing this waste in landfills is their pyrolysis. As a result of thermal decomposition, calorific value products (oil and gas fraction) are obtained, as well as a solid residue, which due to its composition and properties can be processed into a high quality carbon sorbent. For this purpose, various methods of modification of the pyrolyzate are used, both involving physical and chemical activation. This article presents the characteristics of solid residue after the pyrolysis of rubber tires running at a temperature of about 400°C, which included an analysis of chemical composition (XRF and IR), mineralogical composition (XRD, SEM-EDS) and textural characteristics. Additionally, for the purpose of activation, the sample was treated with nitrogen at a temperature of 550°C. The mineralogical analysis showed that the dominant mineral component is carbon. In addition, the presence of quartz, calcite and sphalerite was observed. Analysis of the chemical composition suggests that due to the high carbon content (about 80% by mass) it is possible for a carbon sorbent from the analyzed waste to be obtained. However, previous preliminary studies did not allow a material constituting a substitute for activated carbon to be obtained, because the applied modification only slightly increased the BET specific surface area, which reached the value of approx. 85 m2/g. Based on the analysis of the pore size distribution of the 2 tested samples, it was found to be homogeneous/modal with a micro/mesoporous nature, while the shape of the hysteresis loop suggests the presence of “bottle shape” pores. Due to the relatively high content of zinc, the composition of waste (about 4% of mass), the possibility of recovery of this element should also be considered.

A new type of non-inflatable metal tire is designed to prevent the flat tire caused by puncture and shrapnel penetration, and it can be used on star rovers and military or civilian wheeled vehicles. In order to study vibration damping characteristics of the new wheel, a specimen with the same size as the pneumatic tire (235/70 R16) is made for contrast tests. A filtering method is proposed to reduce impulse and random interference noise in collected vibration signal. Comparative analysis of ride comfort performance is conducted by solving weighted acceleration root mean square (RMS) values. The results show that the filtering method has a good effect, and ride comfort of the metal tire is slightly worse, while it has a better grasping ability. Therefore, some extended structures have been recommended to improve the vibration damping performance.

Communication noise is classified as one of the pollutions for the current environment. Experimental techniques to measure tire-pavement noise generation from asphalt pavements in the laboratory have been limited. A series of experiments were conducted on six different asphalt mixtures to determine if Purdue University’s Tire-Pavement Test Apparatus (TPTA) could be used to overcome these limitations. The procedure produced samples with low tire-pavement noise; however, the air void contents of the samples were higher than designed. Despite these difficulties, the sample preparation technique and the TPTA testing protocol were shown to offer an effective approach for quick laboratory assessment of tire-pavement noise characteristics of hot mix asphalt pavements at a substantially reduced cost compared to field testing.

Traffic related noise is currently considered as an environmental pollution. Paper presents results of multidirectional study attempting to serve urban traffic without the need to erect noise barriers interfering urban space. Initial concept of the road expansion included construction of 1000 m of noise barriers dividing city space. Improvement in the acoustic conditions after construction completion is possible due to the applied noise protection measures: vehicle speed limit, smooth of traffic flow, use of road pavement of reduced noise emission and the technical improvement of the tramway.

Tires play an important role in the automobile industry. However, their disposal when worn out has adverse effects on the environment. The main aim of this study was to prepare activated carbon from waste tire pyrolysis char by impregnating KOH onto pyrolytic char. Adsorption studies on lead onto chemically activated carbon were carried out using response surface methodology. The effect of process parameters such as temperature (°C), adsorbent dosage (g/100 ml), pH, contact time (minutes) and initial lead concentration (mg/l) on the adsorption capacity were investigated. It was found out that the adsorption capacity increased with an increase in adsorbent dosage, contact time, pH, and decreased with an increase in lead concentration and temperature. Optimization of the process variables was done using a numerical optimization method. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra (FTIR) analysis, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscope were used to characterize the pyrolytic carbon char before and after activation. The numerical optimization analysis results showed that the maximum adsorption capacity of

93.176 mg/g was obtained at adsorbent dosage of 0.97 g/100 ml, pH 7, contact time of 115.27 min, initial metal concentration of 100 mg/and temperature of 25°C. FTIR and TGA analysis showed the presence of oxygen containing functional groups on the surface of the activated carbon produced and that the weight loss during the activation step was negligible.

The main objective of the research presented in this paper is to enhance driver-passengers comfort of a vehicle that in turn leads to better vehicle safety and stability. The focus was put on studying the interior vibration and noise contributions originated from tire-road and engine-transmission subsystems, due to their significant impact on the dynamic performance of the vehicle. The noise and vibration measurements were recorded at the driver’s head position and on the driver legs room. Furthermore, the influence of different tire types and road surface textures on the vehicle interior noise and vibration were considered. The results indicate that the widely used conventional engine mounts and tires in commercial vehicles cannot fulfill the conflicting requirements for the best isolation concerning both road surface and engine-transmission induced excitations. The values of driver’s head position sound pressure level and floor vibration acceleration broadband averages originate for engine-transmission are lower than that for tire-road interaction. Furthermore, the values of RMS, crest factor, kurtosis and IRI for the vehicle waveform were estimated for vehicle speeds, tire types and road surface textures. Moreover, the percentage contribution for both interior noise and vibration originated from tire-road interaction is higher than the one from vehicle engine-transmission system in all the vehicle speed range, tire type and road surface texture considered.