Apparatus and related methods for determining tire tread stiffness

摘要

An apparatus (10) for determining tire tread stiffness includes a holding fixture (14) that is coupled to a loading fixture (16). The holding fixture (14) includes a frame (20) on which is mounted a rotary table (22) that carries the tire tread specimen (12) to be tested. The loading fixture (16) includes a loading plate (46) that can apply a normal loading force and a lateral loading force to the tire tread specimen (12). A processor (30) receives data from a monitoring device (36) which provides an indication of the deformation of the tire tread specimen (12) as a lateral load is applied thereto. The processor (30) also receives data from a load cell (48) which monitors the amount of force applied to the tread specimen (12) and correlates this data with the displacement data to determine stiffness properties of the tread specimen (12). The processor (30) also controls the angular position of the rotary table (22) to further analyze the tread stiffness of particular tire tread geometry.