Finite Elements Analysis Of Termperature Field During Tire Vulcanization Process

Tire curing process is the last step in tire production and it is important for quality of tire production. During the process, tires are heated and the molecule structure of the rubber changes. Because the tire is a thick object with bad heat-transferring performance, a uniform field cannot be achieved within the tire after the process. SOC (state of cure) at a position is determined by its temperature-time history, so the SOC within the tire is uneven, which makes the tire over-vulcanized or under-vulcanizd and the worsen of the tire quality. Then, to predict the inner temperatute of the tire during vulcanization, improving the vulcanization process and the equality of SOC, are the ways to improve the quality of the tire. If the change of temperature field within the tire is obtained in the whole course, people can adjust the production technology correctly so as to guarantee production quality.There are three kinds of method to analyze the temperature field during the tire curing process, thermocouple measurements, ANN and to solve the heat conduction eaution. In this paper the principle and previous progresses of the three mothods are described. The defect of the former two methods and the advantages of the FEA method are indicated. Finite elements analysis(FEA) is mostly used method in computer aided engeering(CAE), nowadays, and it has great directive significance to realize numeric analysis and simulation of temperature field whitin tire in curing by finite element analysis for optimizing design and guarantee quality of tire production.In this paper, the principle and method for numerical model of tire vulcanization process with FEA is described. Based on precedent researches and practice,a model is built by using ANSYS to simulate the curing temperature field of tire in vulcanizing. The heating history in different parts of tire is analysed with ANSYS FEA software, and the calculated results agrees well with the temperatures measured in real time during vulcanization of tire. The temperature profiles at different times during vulcanization are also given, from which it could been seen that the vulcanization prcesses at different parts of tire are quite different.In addition, this paper also researches the effect of tread pattern and preheating upon the temperature field of the tire during curing process.lt is found that the simulation result of a finite model with tread pattern is preciser and has a faster speed of heating-up and cooling than that of a finite element model without thead pattern. Otherwise, by increasing the preheating temperature, the curing speed of surface of tire changes little, and that of the point inside the tire which is most difficult to vulcanize is improved obviously, the time of vulcanization is shorten, therefore, uniformity degree of vulcanization is improved.Final experimental result indicates that temperature field simulating system can truly reflects change of tempertature within tire in vulcanizing, and it has actual meanings for tire enterprises to improve the production effciency.