Wear of tyre treads

Purpose: The description of a new method of rubber parts wear testing especially wear of tyre treads is the main aim of this paper. Understanding of wear procedure could help to improve the quality of tyres and other rubber parts working in heavy terrain conditions. Design/methodology/approach: For that purpose testing equipment was designed and constructed. New method of testing of wear resistance based on gravimetric determination of mass loss of testing part during the test period was prepared and well – proven. Behaviour of testing samples during the test was monitored using high speed video camera. Findings: Because of complexity of this problem it would be very useful to continue this research and to describe in details the wear procedure using the new testing methods. Monitoring of wear progress by high speed video – camera may be one of the significant methods. Practical implications: The main benefit for praxis could be seen in new testing method which makes comparing different rubber compounds possible from the point of view of their wear (Chip - Chunk) resistance. Originality/value: Completely new in this paper is also monitoring of wear process using high speed video - camera.