Flat-Proofed Tire Performance: Thermal Properties and Filing Pressures

Use of elastomeric low-modulus, tire flat-proofing media has become standard in many off-road applications posing a hazard to tires. But unanswered questions to date include: [1] How do filled tires perform under extremely cold conditions? [2] What happens to the internal pressures of tires filled with these incompressible elastomers when the tires heat up under severe operating conditions?

This paper describes a series of cold tests run in cooperation with the Arctic Engineering Department of the University of Alaska, as well as results of tire durability tests during which changes in temperature and internal pressure, spring rate, tire deflection, and footprint size were monitored in tires filled with low-modulus elastomers.